//.  /Z-.2-/ 

LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

Presented  by 


BX    92lTTc6^82    192^ 

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The  Old  stone  church 


THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

1820-1920 


Of  this  history  500  copies  were  privately 

printed  for  The  Old  Stone  Church  by 

The  Premier  Press 


This  is  number 


319 


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The  Old  Stone  Church 


Drawn  by  Anna  P.  Oviatt 


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'OUT  219; 


THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

THE  STORY  OF  A  HUNDRED 
YEARS 

1820-  1920 


BY 
ARTHUR  C.  LUDLOW,   D.D. 


CLEVELAND,   1920 
PRIVATELY  PRINTED 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY 

THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  SOCIETY 
IN  CLEVELAND 


CONTENTS 

Foreword           .             .             .             .             .             •  H 

I  Beginnings,   1796-1820             ...  13 

II  The  Day  of  Small  Things    ...  31 

III  Church  Discipline     ....  77 

IV  The  Plan  of  Union    ....  93 

V  Pastorate  of  the  Reverend  Samuel  Clark 
Aiken,   1835-1861          ....  105 

VI  Pastorate  of  the  Reverend  William 

Henry  Goodrich,  1858-1874  .  .  .  153 

VII  First  Pastorate  of  the  Reverend  Hiram 
Collins  Haydn,  1872-1880      .  .  .193 

VIII  Pastorate  of  the  Reverend  Arthur 
Mitchell,   1880-1884  ....  231 

IX  The  Second  Pastorate  of  the  Reverend 

Hiram  Collins  Haydn,  1884-1902      .  .  261 

X  Good  Measure  Pressed  Down  and  Running 

Over 305 

XI  Helpers  All     .....  335 

XII  The  Pastorate  of  the  Reverend  Andrew 
Barclay  Meldrum      ....  375 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Old  Stone  Church     .  .  .  Frontispiece 

Reduced  Facsimile  of  a  Portion  of  the  Record  Book 

OF  THE  Society               ....  45 

The  original  Old  Stone  Church      ...  65 

Samuel  C.  Aiken        .....  109 

William  H.  Goodrich             ....  155 

The  Church  of  1858-1884      ....  161 

Interior  of  the  Old  Stone  Church             .            .  195 

Arthur  Mitchell       .....  233 

Hiram  C.  Haydn          .....  263 

Andrew  B.  Meldrum               ....  377 


FOREWORD 

In  justice  to  the  author  it  should  be  stated  that 
while  he  has  been  a  life-long  resident  of  Cleveland  and 
pastor  for  thirty-five  years  of  a  sister  Presbyterian 
church,  the  historical  matter  presented  in  this  volume 
was  practically  unknown  to  him,  when  within  six 
months'  time,  under  the  additional  burden  of  pastoral 
cares,  the  manuscript  had  to  be  prepared.  More  time 
for  research  and  for  proper  arrangement  of  material 
would  have  been  welcome,  but  that  was  out  of  the 
question.  The  language  of  previous  writers  may  have 
been  used  at  times,  without  in  every  instance  due 
credit  having  been  given,  but  the  swiftness  of  the 
task  is  the  only  excuse  for  any  seeming  plagiarism. 

Notwithstanding  the  exercise  of  all  possible  care, 
inaccuracies  will  be  discovered,  while  descendants  of 
early  members  of  the  Old  Stone  Church  will  be  dis- 
appointed in  not  finding  more  attention  having  been 
given  to  their  ancestors.  Everything,  however,  was 
subordinated  to  the  portrayal  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Cleveland  as  a  member  of  Christ's 
body,  through  which  the  grace  of  God  has  richly 
blessed  mankind. 

The  author  closes  with  the  feeling  that  not  half  has 
been  told.  Time  may  reveal  a  greater  wealth  of 
data  than  that  in  the  possession  of  the  centennial 


12  FOREWORD 

historian,  and  some  one  with  greater  leisure  may 
prepare  a  more  comprehensive  and  accurate  history. 

The  author  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  form 
of  the  book,  nor  with  the  selection  of  its  illustrations. 
He  wishes  to  give  special  credit  to  Miss  Gertrude  M. 
Robertson,  a  faithful  member  of  the  Stone  Church, 
for  her  valuable  service  in  preparing  the  manuscript 
for  the  press.  Above  all  he  acknowledges  the  touch 
of  an  unseen  hand  that  collaborated  with  him  in  1896 
Cleveland  Presbyterianism^  for  without  the  abiding 
influence  of  her  inspiration  this  Story  of  the  Old  Stone 
Church  could  never  have  been  written. 

ARTHUR    C.    LUDLOW 
CLEVELAND,  AUG.  9,  1920. 


I.  BEGINNINGS 

1796-1820 

A  cynical  philosopher  once  said,  '*We  learn  from 
history  that  men  never  learn  from  history;"  still 
Carlyle's  maxims  are  to  be  treasured,  "History  is 
philosophy  teaching  by  experience,"  and  ''History  is 
the  essence  of  innumerable  biographies." 

If  valued  truth  does  come  like  the  particles  of  gold 
washed  from  the  alloy  of  the  mountainsides,  ought 
not  what  is  precious  in  the  annals  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian, or  the  Old  Stone  Church  of  Cleveland,  as 
the  religious  organization  is  more  popularly  known, 
inspire  warmer  love  for  Christ,  and  a  deeper  spirit  of 
consecration  to  the  work  of  His  kingdom?  Might  it 
not  interest  and  inspire  even  the  heart  of  the  casual 
reader? 

In  the  northwest  quarter-section  of  the  Public 
Square  a  gallows  was  constructed  in  1812  for  the 
execution  of  O'Mic,  the  Indian  condemned  for  the 
murder  of  two  white  trappers.  The  court  of  justice 
had  held  its  sessions  in  the  open  air,  at  the  corner 
of  Superior  and  Water  Streets.  Later  religious  services 
were  conducted  in  an  open  field  preparatory  to  the 
judicial  execution. 

The  instrument  of  capital  punishment  was  erected 
in  the  Public  Square,  where  later  for  many  years  the 
green  and  white  lily-encircled  fountain  sent  forth 
modest  sprays,  and  where  the  late  Tom  L.  Johnson 


14  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

in  bronze  is  now  seated.  Before  a  terrific  storm  from 
the  northwest  dispersed  the  spectators  of  the  grew- 
some  hanging,  many  of  them  had  found  convenient 
seats  upon  piles  of  timber,  which  the  builder  of  the 
gallows  had  drawn  to  the  spot  for  the  purpose  of 
constructing  a  log  court-house. 

Levi  Johnson,  the  most  noted  architect  and  builder 
of  Cleveland's  earlier  years,  rode  into  the  city  in 
1809,  sold  his  horse  in  order  to  secure  a  little  capital, 
and  thus  began  his  remarkable  career.  In  addition 
to  the  gallows  and  log  court-house,  he  built  many 
residences,  the  Johnson  House  on  Superior  Street 
opposite  the  American  House,  the  first  lighthouse 
and  pier,  the  lighthouse  at  Cedar  Point;  while  the 
channel  of  Sandusky  Bay  was  marked  by  the  buoys 
which  he  placed  for  the  guidance  of  boats.  After 
building  a  number  of  schooners  in  1824  he  constructed 
the  first  steamboat  launched  in  Cleveland.  He  then 
became  a  prominent  owner  of  boats,  and  died  in  1871 
reputed  to  be  a  millionaire. 

The  pioneer  court  of  justice,  constructed  by  Levi 
Johnson  at  the  cost  of  five  hundred  dollars,  was  two 
stories  in  height  and  its  logs  were  covered  with 
boards  painted  red.  In  the  lower  story  of  the 
crude  structure  were  the  jail  and  apartments  for  the 
jailor's  family.  The  second  story  was  used  for  the 
court-room,  and  also  served  as  a  hall  for  public 
assemblies. 

The  walls  of  the  lower  story  containing  the  cells 
for  prisoners  were  certainly  constructed  for  the  safe- 
keeping of  all  committed  to  their  confines,  for  they 


BEGINNINGS  15 

were  made  of  squared  timber  three  feet  long,  placed 
endwise  and  bolted  together.  At  the  landing  of  the 
inside  stairway  a  fireplace  sizzled  during  the  winter 
months  with  green  logs,  in  feeble  efforts  to  warm  the 
whole  structure.  In  the  upper  story  of  this  log  court- 
house, whose  construction  had  speedily  followed  the 
erection  of  the  temporary  gallows,  the  Old  Stone 
Church  was  born,  a  place  of  advent  almost  as  humble 
as  the  manger  of  Bethlehem. 

Sunday  Schools  have  often  been  the  forerunners  of 
church  organizations.  This  was  true  of  the  origin  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleveland,  although 
the  pioneer  Sunday  School  antedated  the  founding 
of  the  church  by  only  a  few  months. 

During  June  of  1819  a  Sunday  School  had  been 
started  by  a  few  earnest  Christian  men  and  women. 
Mr.  Elisha  Taylor,  a  Presbyterian,  was  elected  super- 
intendent; while  Mr.  Moses  White,  a  Baptist  layman, 
served  as  secretary.  Prominent  among  the  women 
interested  in  the  union  venture  were  Mrs.  Juliana 
Long  and  Mrs.  Rebecca  Carter. 

Some  forceful  character  usually  inspires  incipient 
religious  movements,  and  this  seems  to  have  been 
especially  true  of  Mr.  Elisha  Taylor,  the  first  super- 
intendent and  afterwards  a  ruling  elder,  until  in  1853 
he  was  dismissed  from  the  Stone  Church  in  order  to 
become  one  of  the  thirteen  charter  members  of  the 
Euclid  Street  Presbyterian  Church. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elisha  Taylor  had  come  to  Cleveland 
from  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  where  they  had  been  active 
members  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.    In  their 


16  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

new  western  home  they  at  once  combated  the  pre- 
vaiUng  reHgious  indifference  of  the  times,  and  sought 
diHgently  to  secure  permanent  spiritual  privileges 
for  the  villagers.  They  were  noted  for  hospitality  and 
readiness  to  entertain  ministers  of  all  creeds  who 
chanced  to  visit  the  settlement. 

In  his  semicentennial  sermon  the  Reverend  Dr. 
W.  H.  Goodrich  thus  portrayed  Mr.  EHsha  Taylor: 

He  was  probably  the  equal  of  any  of  his  contemporaries 
in  natural  gifts;  and  his  education  and  culture  were 
superior  to  theirs.  He  was  a  man  of  inflexible  resolve, 
as  well  as  of  very  sudden  and  intense  emotions;  and  if 
sometimes  in  his  haste  he  aroused  enmity  toward  him- 
self, or  even  the  cause  he  professed,  no  one  could  observe 
him  nearly  and  thoroughly  without  feeling  the  power  of 
a  genuine,  earnest  and  powerful  Christianity. 

Mrs.  Elisha  Taylor  lived  but  two  years  after  the 
formation  of  the  Stone  Church.  Her  grave  in  Erie 
Street  Cemetery  is  marked  by  a  slate  monument 
whose  inscription  is  as  clear  as  when  made.  Upon 
the  lower  portion  are  these  lines: 

Twice  seven  brief  years  the  husband  of  her  youth 
She  cheer'd  and  blest;  and  nine  sweet  babes  embrac'd. 
But  four  of  these  herself  surviv'd;  the  last 
An  hour  in  age,  ne'er  felt  a  mother's  care. 
Of  faith  in  Jesus'  blood,  sov'reign  but  free, 
Profession  good  she  made  before  the  world. 
With  God  she  walk'd;  and  at  life's  noon  exchang'd 
Her  faith  and  hope  for  bless'd  eternity. 

This  pioneer  wife,  married  at  sixteen,  had  passed 
away  when  scarcely  thirty-one  years  of  age.  She  died 


BEGINNINGS  17 

at  the  birth  of  the  ninth  child,  the  fourth  to  survive, 
five  having  been  taken  in  infancy. 

Mr.  Moses  White,  the  Baptist  layman,  elected 
secretary  of  the  first  Sunday  School  in  Cleveland, 
worshiped  with  the  Presbyterians  until  the  organi- 
zation of  the  First  Baptist  Church  was  effected  in 
1833.  He  lived  to  old  age,  an  honored  citizen  and 
an  earnest  Christian  layman. 

A  Reverend  Mr.  Osgood,  who  visited  feeble 
churches  on  the  Western  Reserve,  is  said  to  have  been 
present  at  the  organization  of  this  Sunday  School  in 
1819.  For  some  time  between  twenty  and  forty 
pupils  attended  and  were  instructed  by  seven  or  eight 
teachers.  The  school  was  held  part  of  the  year,  and 
flourished  better  in  the  winter  months. 

Out  of  this  home  missionary  Sunday  School  issued, 
September  19,  1820,  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Cleveland.  The  Reverend  William  Hanford  and 
the  Reverend  Randolph  Stone,  delegated  represen- 
tatives of  the  Portage  Presbytery,  met  July  18,  1820, 
in  the  log  court-house,  sixteen  persons  desirous  of 
becoming  charter  members  of  the  new  religious 
enterprise.  The  two  clergymen,  graduates  of  Yale 
College,  had  become  prominent  leaders  of  religious 
forces  upon  the  Western  Reserve. 

As  a  home  missionary  the  Reverend  William  Han- 
ford had  visited  almost  every  Ohio  settlement,  and 
to  him  has  been  credited  the  formation  of  sixteen 
pioneer  churches.  For  sixteen  years  he  was  also 
pastor  of  the  church  at  Hudson,  Ohio,  afterwards  the 
seat  of  Western  Reserve  College,  to  whose  founding 


18  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

and  early  welfare  the  Reverend  Mr.  Hanford  gave 
much  attention. 

This  pioneer  home  missionary  still  has  a  represen- 
tative in  the  activities  of  Cleveland  Presbytery,  his 
nephew,  Elder  Lewis  H.  Hanford,  having  been  a  lead- 
ing official  throughout  the  history  of  the  South  Pres- 
byterian Church  and  frequently  a  member  of  Presby- 
tery. 

The  business  of  the  preliminary  meeting,  conducted 
July  18,  1820,  by  the  two  ministers,  was  recorded  in 
the  first  volume  of  the  church  minutes  in  this  exact 
form: 

After  prayer  following  persons  expressed  a  desire  to  be 
examined  with  reference  to  their  being  formed  into  a 
church,  Viz.  Elisha  Taylor  and  Ann  his  wife,  Henry  Baird 
and  Ann  his  wife,  Sam'l  I.  Hamlin,  Philip  B.  Andrews, 
Sophia  L.  Perry,  Sophia  Walsworth,  Mabel  Howe,  Birth 
Johnston,  Robert  Baird  and  Nancy  his  wife,  Rebecca 
Carter,  Julianna  Long,  Isabella  Williamson  and  Harriet 
Howe.  The  first  ten  of  these  were  Members  of  the 
Church  -  the  last  six  had  never  made  a  pubhc  profession 
of  their  Faith.  The  above  mentioned  individuals  were 
all  examined,  as  to  their  doctrinal  and  experimental 
knowledge  of  Christianity.  After  which  they  expressed 
their  approbation  of  each  other.  Suitable  remarks  were 
made  and  the  meeting  closed  with  prayer.  At  4  o'clock 
P.  M.,  pubHc  worship  was  attended.  After  sermon  those 
who  had  been  examined  were  propounded  as  candidates 
to  be  formed  into  a  Church  -  the  organization  of  which 
was  postponed  until  letters  of  recommendation  might  be 
obtained  by  several  who  had  not  received  them. 

This  postponement  is  supposed  to  have  been  due  to 
the  strict  Presbyterian  training  of  Mr.  Elisha  Taylor, 


BEGINNINGS  19 

who  insisted  upon  having  the  letters  of  certain  pros- 
pective charter  members;  consequently  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  new  church  was  not  completed  until 
September  19,  1820.  The  following  minute  describes 
that  formal  work  of  organization: 

Agreeably  to  previous  appointment  a  meeting  was  held 
for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  organization  of  a  church 
in  this  place.  Ministers  present  as  above.  After  prayer 
and  suitable  remarks  those  who  had  been  previously 
propounded,  excepting  Mrs.  Sophia  L.  Perry,  who  was 
prevented  from  attending  by  sickness  in  the  family,  came 
forward,  publicly  professed  their  Faith  in  Christ,  entered 
into  Covenant  with  God  and  with  each  other;  were 
declared  to  be  a  Church  of  Christ,  charged  to  walk 
worthy  of  their  High  Vocation  and  commended  by 
prayer  to  the  guidance,  protection  and  blessing  of 
Almighty  God:  After  which  a  meeting  of  the  Church  was 
held.  Elisha  Taylor  was  appointed  Clerk,  and  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  and  Covenant  were  unanimously  adopted. 
Voted  that  the  Church  be  under  the  Watch  and  Care  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Portage -that  the  mode  of  internal 
government  of  this  Church  be  left  for  further  determina- 
tion.    Adjournment.     Attest,  Elisha  Taylor,  Clerk. 

The  list  of  charter  members  has  not  always  been 
printed  correctly,  either  in  respect  to  the  number  of 
them,  or  the  spelling  of  their  names.  In  his  sermon, 
delivered  in  1893,  entitled  "History  of  Presbyter- 
ianism  in  Cleveland,"  the  Reverend  Dr.  H.  C.  Haydn 
specified  fifteen  members,  having  omitted  "Robert 
Baird  and  Nancy  his  wife,"  and  included  Minerva 
Merwin,  who  united  with  the  church  a  year  later. 

In  the  original  record  "Walsworth"  should  have 
been    "Walworth;"     while    "Birth    Johnston"    was 


20  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

"Mrs.  Bertha  Johnston."  "Juhanna  Long"  should 
have  been  ''JuUana  Long."  Mr.  EKsha  Taylor  was 
a  dry  goods  merchant,  while  Deacon  Samuel  L  Ham- 
len  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  almost  as  pro- 
nounced a  Presbyterian  as  Mr.  Taylor.  In  the 
original  church  roll  the  name  was  "Hamlin,"  instead 
of  "Hamlen,"  and  in  Dr.  Haydn's  sermon  it  was 
printed  "T.  J.,"  instead  of  "S.  L  Hamlen."  He  was 
the  father  of  the  late  Reverend  Chauncey  L.  Hamlen, 
a  graduate  of  Western  Reserve  College  and  a  Presby- 
terian clergyman,  whose  youth  was  spent  in  the 
Stone  Church.  Philip  B.  Andrews,  the  owner  of  a 
machine  shop,  made  a  specialty  of  repairing  steam- 
boat engines.  Henry  Baird,  the  proprietor  of  a  small 
hotel  under  Superior  Street  hill,  was  a  Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterian,  who  marched  out  of  church  when  a 
bass  viol  was  [installed  in  the  choir  loft.  Mrs.  Sophia 
L.  Perry  was  the  widow  of  Nathan  Perry,  Sr.,  a 
Revolutionary  soldier  who  came  to  Cleveland  in  1806, 
and  became  a  leader  in  pioneer  days.  Mrs.  Perry  was 
the  daughter  of  a  Vermont  clergyman.  She  is  said  to 
have  been  a  very  dignified  woman,  somewhat  austere 
in  manner.  Her  son,  Nathan  Perry,  Jr.,  resembled 
his  mother  in  character  and  disposition.  She  died  in 
1836.  Mabel  and  Harriet  Howe  were  Mrs.  Mabel 
and  Miss  Harriet  Howe.  They  may  have  been  con- 
nected with  Eben  D.  Howe,  who  came  to  Cleve- 
land in  1819  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Cleveland  Herald. 

Mrs.  Sophia  Walworth  was  the  wife  of  Ashbel  W. 
Walworth,  the  son  of  Judge  John  Walworth,  who 


BEGINNINGS  21 

came  in  1800  from  Connecticut  to  Ohio,  and  pur- 
chased a  farm  near  Painesville.  A  man  of  sound 
judgment  and  education,  he  soon  became  a  leading 
spirit  on  the  Reserve.  In  1806  he  removed  to  Cleve- 
land, having  bought  a  farm  of  three  hundred  acres, 
bounded  by  Huron,  Erie,  Cross  Streets  and  the 
Cuyahoga  River.  There  he  resided  until  he  died  in 
1812.  He  had  held  many  offices  in  government  and 
had  been  associate  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court. 
His  daughter,  Juliana  Walworth,  one  of  the  charter 
members  of  the  Stone  Church,  became  the  wife  of 
Dr.  David  Long,  the  first  physician  to  settle  in  Cleve- 
land, having  come  from  Hebron,  N.  Y.,  in  1810.  He 
was  a  public  spirited  man,  interested  in  whatever 
concerned  the  welfare  of  the  community.  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  David  Long  had  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  H. 
Severance,  who  became  the  mother  of  the  late  Elders 
Solon  L.  and  Louis  H.  Severance,  who  for  many  years 
were  leaders  not  only  in  Presbyterian  circles,  but 
also  in  all  missionary  and  charitable  enterprises.  Thus 
Mr.  John  L.  Severance  and  Mrs.  Francis  F.  Prentiss, 
children  of  the  late  Louis  H.  Severance,  and  Mrs. 
B.  L.  Milliken,  Professor  Allen  D.  and  Miss  Mary  H. 
Severance,  children  of  the  late  Solon  L.  Severance, 
are  members  of  the  fifth  generation  in  line  of  descent 
from  Judge  John  Walworth. 

While  one  daughter  of  Judge  John  Walworth  be- 
came the  wife  of  the  first  physician  to  settle  in  Cleve- 
land, a  second  daughter,  Hannah  Walworth,  became 
the  wife  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Strickland,  Cleveland's  first 
dentist.  He  came  in  1835  from  Vermont,  when  he  was 


22  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  practiced  dentistry  over 
fifty  years.  The  first  Strickland  home  and  office  were 
located  on  the  present  site  of  the  Marshall  Drug  Com- 
pany on  the  Public  Square. 

Isabella  Williamson,  a  charter  member,  was  the 
wife  of  Samuel  Williamson,  who  came  to  Cleveland 
from  Pennsylvania  in  1810.  With  his  brother 
Matthew  he  established  a  tanning  business,  but  he 
was  known  as  Judge  Williamson,  having  been  an 
associate  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court.  He  was 
greatly  interested  in  the  moral  and  intellectual  wel- 
fare of  the  community,  and  his  name  was  first  on  the 
charter  of  the  Stone  Church  Society.  It  is  noticeable 
that  only  one  man  who  signed  the  petition  for  a 
charter  in  1827,  incorporating  the  Church  Society, 
was  a  member  of  the  church.  A  number  afterwards 
became  members,  while  some  doubtless  belonged  to 
distant  churches. 

Samuel  Williamson,  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Isabella 
Williamson,  graduated  from  Jefi^erson  College  in  1829, 
studied  law  and  became  a  partner  of  Leonard  Case, 
Sr.  He  became  one  of  the  most  influential  members 
of  the  Stone  Church,  and  was  president  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  from  1860  until  the  time  of  his  death  in 
1884.  For  many  years  he  was  president  of  the  Society 
for  Savings.  He  was  the  father  of  the  late  Judge 
Samuel  E.  Williamson,  the  late  George  T.  Williamson 
of  Chicago,  and  the  Reverend  James  D.  Williamson, 
D.D.,  for  many  years  an  honored  member  of  Cleveland 
Presbytery  and  now  vice-president  of  the  Society 
for  Savings. 


BEGINNINGS  23 

Bertha  Johnston  and  Rebecca  Carter  were  widows. 
The  latter  was  the  widow  of  the  noted  Major  Lorenzo 
Carter,  who  came  to  Cleveland  when  only  seven 
persons  were  living  on  the  banks  of  the  Cuyahoga 
River.  For  a  number  of  years  Major  Carter  was  the 
foremost  citizen  of  the  village,  by  reason  of  his  ability 
to  keep  order,  especially  in  case  of  unruly  Indians 
who  were  attracted  to  David  Bryant's  distillery, 
which  commenced  operations  twenty  years  prior  to 
the  founding  of  the  Stone  Church.  Major  Carter 
accumulated  considerable  property  and  died  in  1814, 
when  forty-seven  years  of  age.  The  widow  outlived 
her  husband  thirteen  years,  and  for  seven  years  she 
was  a  faithful  member  of  the  Stone  Church.  Very 
modest  stones  mark  the  graves  of  Major  and  Mrs. 
Lorenzo  Carter,  which  are  a  little  north  of  the  west 
entrance  of  Erie  Street  Cemetery. 

For  thirteen  years,  or  until  the  basement  of  the 
first  church  building  could  be  utilized,  this  little  band 
of  Christians,  like  Israel  of  old,  had  no  fixed  habita- 
tion. During  the  first  fifteen  years  no  pastors  were 
installed,  the  congregation  having  depended  upon 
"supplies,"  some  of  whom  were  more  transient  than 
stated. 

The  log  court-house  in  the  Public  Square,  the  first 
log  schoolhouse  on  St.  Clair  Street,  the  more  stately 
Academy  on  the  site  of  the  present  Engine  House 
No.  1  on  St.  Clair  Avenue,  and  finally  the  third  story 
of  Dr.  Long's  building  on  Superior  Street,  where  the 
American  House  is  located,  in  a  room  termed  "The 
Garret,"  were  successive  places  of  worship.  The  only 


24  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

other  church  existing  in  Cleveland  at  the  time  of  the 
organization  of  the  Stone  Church  was  Trinity  Parish, 
popularly  denominated  "The  Church,"  but  in  later 
years  known  as  ''Old  Trinity."  This  church  had  been 
formed  November  9,  1816,  in  Phineas  Shepherd's 
home,  a  log  cabin  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  At 
that  time  there  was  no  diocesan  organization,  or  even 
a  missionary  society  connected  with  Ohio,  but  Darius 
Cooper  in  1817  had  been  appointed  to  read  service. 
It  was  not  until  September  27,  1819,  that  Bishop 
Chase  first  visited  the  parish  and  confirmed  ten  per- 
sons. Until  Trinity  Church  erected  a  frame  building, 
costing  about  three  thousand  dollars,  at  the  corner  of 
St.  Clair  and  Seneca  Streets,  the  members  worshipped 
in  the  log  court-house,  in  the  Academy,  and  finally 
in  the  Free  Masons'  Hall. 

Thus  when  the  Village  of  Cleveland  contained  but 
one  hundred  fifty  inhabitants,  two  religious  organiza- 
tions, to  be  known  in  time  as  Old  Trinity  and  Old 
Stone  Churches,  shared  the  same  hall  for  divine 
worship,  and  laid  humble  foundations  for  larger 
things,  not  having  the  slightest  idea  that  the  pioneer 
village  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  River  would 
ever  become  a  great  city.  That  part  of  Ohio  adjacent 
to  Lake  Erie  had  never  figured  in  history.  With  the 
exception  of  the  brief  sojourn  of  Christian  Indians, 
under  the  leadership  of  Moravian  missionaries,  on 
Tinker's  Creek,  near  Bedford,  Ohio,  for  almost  a 
decade  after  the  Revolutionary  War  the  southern 
shore  of  Lake  Erie  was  practically  deserted. 

After  the  struggle  for  independence  all  the  Ameri- 


BEGINNINGS  25 

can  colonies,  with  the  exception  of  Connecticut,  sur- 
rendered their  claims  to  the  "Northwest  Territory." 
The  "Nutmeg  State,"  however,  continiied  to  assert 
control  of  a  strip  of  land,  between  the  forty-first  and 
forty-second  parallels,  extending  from  Connecticut 
to  the  Mississippi  River  and  including  northern  Ohio. 
A  national  treaty,  made  in  1785  with  three  tribes  of 
Indians,  brought  the  hitherto  insignificant  Cuyahoga 
River  into  marked  prominence.  The  Indians  spelled 
the  name  "Cayahoga,"  meaning  "crooked,"  and  tor- 
tuous the  stream  was.  At  times  its  mouth  was  filled 
with  sand  to  such  an  extent  that  crossing  on  foot 
was  possible.  The  national  treaty  with  the  Indians 
forced  them  to  retire  west  of  the  Cuyahoga  River  and 
Portage  Path;  while  the  whites  on  their  part  were  not 
to  go  west  of  those  bounds. 

Vast  schemes  were  at  once  launched  by  land 
speculators,  the  most  successful  having  been  the 
members  of  the  Connecticut  Land  Company.  In  1786 
the  Government  gave  Connecticut  a  strip  of  land 
extending  one  hundred  twenty  miles  west  of  the 
Pennsylvania  line,  between  the  forty-first  and  forty- 
second  parallels,  as  large  as  Connecticut  herself,  hence 
appropriately  termed  the  "New  Connecticut."  The 
grant  was  also  called  the  "Western  Reserved  Lands," 
abbreviated  in  time  to  "The  Western  Reserve,"  or 
"The  Reserve."  Connecticut  gave  five  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  this  tract  to  the  citizens  of  five 
towns,  whose  homes  had  been  burned  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  during  the  raids  of  Benedict  Arnold. 
The  beneficiaries  through  this  grant  formed  "The 


26  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Fire  Lands  and  Sufferers'  Land  Company."  In  1795, 
however,  the  Connecticut  Legislature  abandoned  the 
idea  of  retailing  the  remaining  three  milHon  acres, 
and  so  sold  the  whole  tract  for  forty  cents  per  acre  to 
the  Connecticut  Land  Company,  composed  of  fifty-six 
citizens  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Fortu- 
nately for  Connecticut  the  sum  of  one  million  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  received  through  the  sale, 
was  set  aside  for  educational  purposes.  The  Land 
Company  had  seven  directors,  one  of  whom  was 
General  Moses  Cleaveland,  who  headed  the  first  sur- 
veying party  as  far  as  the  Cuyahoga  River,  which 
was  half-way  between  the  eastern  and  western  boun- 
daries of  the  Western  Reserve. 

Half  of  the  Western  Reserve,  between  the  Cuya- 
hoga River  and  the  Pennsylvania  line,  was  first  sold. 
Disposition  of  the  half  between  the  Cuyahoga  River 
and  Sandusky  had  to  be  delayed,  until  it  could  be 
secured  from  the  Indians.  The  surveyed  area  of  the 
Western  Reserve  fell  far  short  of  original  estimates. 
It  had  been  taken  for  granted  that  the  tract  of  land 
formed  a  parallelogram  one  hundred  twenty  miles 
long  by  seventy-one  and  a  half  miles  wide,  but  fully 
one-third  of  the  estimated  area  was  found  to  be  at 
the  bottom  of  Lake  Erie,  the  southern  shore  of  that 
body  of  water,  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Western 
Reserve,  running  northeasi:  and  southwest,  instead  of 
east  and  west. 

Before  returning  east  members  of  Moses  Cleave- 
land's  party  surveyed  the  "capital  city"  of  the 
Western  Reserve,  and  bestowed  upon  it  the  name  of 


BEGINNINGS  27 

the  leader.  With  the  Public  Square  as  the  center,  one 
square  mile  was  surveyed  into  fourteen  streets  with 
a  total  of  two  hundred  twenty  lots. 

The  assertion  has  been  made  that  Moses  Cleave- 
land  did  not  merit  the  honor  that  has  come  to  his 
memory,  by  reason  of  anything  that  he  did  to  found 
the  city  that  bears  his  revised  name.  From  what  is 
known,  however,  of  General  Moses  Cleaveland,  the 
city  ought  not  to  be  ashamed  of  its  title.  He  was  a 
man  of  few  words,  but  prompt  in  action;  so  sedate 
in  appearance  that  he  was  often  taken  for  a  clergy- 
man. A  child  of  cultured  parents,  he  was  sent  to  Yale 
College,  where  he  graduated  in  1777.  At  the  time  of 
admission  to  the  bar  he  was  summoned  to  become 
captain  of  sappers  and  miners  in  the  United  States 
Army.  After  such  military  service  the  practice  of  law 
was  resumed,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
Legislature  his  record  was  honorable.  As  a  member 
of  the  state  militia  he  became  in  1796  general  of  the 
Fifth  Brigade,  and  died  when  only  fifty-two  years 
of  age. 

During  the  winter  of  1796-1797  Cleveland  had 
three  inhabitants.  During  the  summer  of  1797  there 
was  much  sickness,  and  the  first  burial  was  made  in 
the  new  cemetery  on  Ontario  Street,  at  the  corner 
of  what  is  now  Prospect  Avenue.  Ohio  was  admitted 
into  the  Union  in  1803.  By  1810  the  population  of 
Cleveland  had  grown  to  fifty-seven.  The  village 
was  incorporated  in  1815,  when  a  charter  was  granted 
and  Alfred  Kelly  elected  president,  only  twelve 
votes  having  been  cast  at  the  polls. 


28  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  steamboat  "Walk-in-the-Water"  appeared  in 
1818  outside  the  port  which  could  not  be  entered, 
not  only  on  account  of  a  prolonged  storm,  but  also 
by  reason  of  the  sand  in  the  mouth  of  the  river.  This 
first  steamboat  on  Lake  Erie  had  been  built  on  the 
Niagara  River  near  Buffalo  and  named  after  an 
Indian  chieftain,  and  not  on  account  of  her  appear- 
ance on  the  lake.  When  completed  the  craft  lacked 
steampower  sufficient  to  stem  the  current  of  the 
Niagara  River,  and  so  to  the  horsepower  of  the 
engines  there  had  to  be  added  the  towing  strength  of 
fourteen  yoke  of  oxen.  The  fuel  used  was  wood,  and 
the  boat  was  three  hundred  tons  burden,  with 
accommodations  for  sixty  cabin  and  a  number  of 
steerage  passengers.  She  was  wrecked  in  1821  near 
Buffalo. 

By  1820  the  village  of  Cleveland  was  estimated  to 
have  contained  one  hundred  fifty  inhabitants,  and 
at  such  a  time  the  Stone  Church  was  founded.  The 
crack  of  the  rabbit  hunter's  rifle  in  the  copse  north 
of  the  log  court-house  occasionally  disturbed  the 
worshipers.  Very  few  dreamed  that  the  place  would 
ever  rank  higher  than  a  rural  village.  General  Moses 
Cleaveland  had  ''opined"  that  it  might  become  as 
large  as  Windham,  Conn.  Not  until  1824,  when  it 
was  selected  as  the  northern  terminal  of  the  Ohio 
Canal,  was  there  the  slightest  promise  of  any  marked 
growth  in  population. 

The  soil  was  sandy  and  barren,  and  the  atmosphere 
malarial;  hence  the  surrounding  country  life  first 
became  more  attractive  than  that  of  the  unpromising 


BEGINNINGS  29 

village.  Newburgh's  fertile  soil,  with  the  construc- 
tion there  in  1799  of  the  first  flouring-mill  in  northern 
Ohio,  gave  to  Cleveland  the  geographical  rating  of 
a  "small  village  six  miles  from  Newburgh."  One  of 
the  Newburgh  millstones  has  long  adorned  the  Public 
Square  in  front  of  the  Stone  Church;  the  other  is  a 
stepping-stone  in  front  of  the  Caine  residence  on 
Broadway  near  Miles  Avenue. 

The  value  of  Cleveland  real  estate  for  taxation  in 
1815  was  only  twenty-one  thousand  sixty-five  dollars; 
while  the  entire  village  vote  in  1829,  almost  a  decade 
after  the  founding  of  the  Stone  Church,  was  but 
forty-seven.  Methodism  in  Cleveland  had  slow 
growth.  In  1823  a  member  of  the  Hudson  Circuit 
formed  a  class  consisting  of  five  women  and  two  men, 
but  it  was  not  until  1841  that  a  church  edifice  was 
dedicated  at  the  corner  of  St.  Clair  and  what  is  now 
East  Third  Street.  The  Baptists  formed  their  first 
church  in  1833.  Roman  Catholics  of  various  nation- 
alities were  in  Cleveland  between  1820  and  1835,  but 
their  formation  into  a  parish  came  later. 

Such  were  the  religious  forces  working  in  Cleveland, 
from  1820  to  1835,  during  the  decade  and  a  half  that 
the  Stone  Church  depended  upon  the  successive 
ministrations  of  six  "Stated  Supplies." 


II.  THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS 

1820-1835 

For  many  years  the  Egyptians  viewed  with  deep 
religious  awe  the  annual  overflow  of  the  River  Nile, 
because  the  sources  of  that  enriching  stream  were 
shrouded  in  mystery.  Finally  when  explorers  sought 
the  very  heart  of  the  Dark  Continent,  their  hazardous 
efforts  enlisted  the  admiration  of  the  world. 

Five  installed  pastors  have  ministered  during  the 
last  eighty-five  years  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  the 
Old  Stone  Church,  whose  century  of  influence  is 
valued,  not  only  by  Cleveland  Presbyterians,  but 
also  by  the  adherents  of  other  Christian  denomina- 
tions. This  deepening  and  enriching  flow  of  spiritual 
power,  however,  came  in  great  measure  from  sources 
little  known;  a  fact  that  challenged  the  centennial 
historian  to  throw  as  much  light  as  possible  upon  the 
first  fifteen  years  of  the  century  that  has  elapsed 
since  the  Old  Stone  Church  was  founded. 

The  day  of  small  things  should  never  be  despised, 
a  truth  emphasized  by  Wordsworth  when  he  wrote 
in  a  child's  album,  "Small  service  is  true  service  while 
it  lasts,"  and  as  Emerson  asserted: 

There  is  no  great  and  no  small 
To  the  Soul  that  maketh  all; 
And  when  it  cometh  all  things  are; 
And  it  cometh  everywhere. 


32  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  five  ministers  and  their  assistants  who  have 
served  the  Old  Stone  Church  during  the  last  eighty- 
five  years  have  never  undervalued  the  pioneer  work 
of  the  earlier  "six  stated  supplies."  Many  pastors 
have  enjoyed  summer  vacation  trips  to  villages,  where 
before  their  ordination  they  first  "tried  their  wings" 
in  flights  of  pulpit  eloquence.  What  hearty  greetings 
have  been  received  by  such  visitors  from  the  village 
worshipers  who  still  recalled  the  "supply  service"  of 
earlier  years! 

Almost  every  historian  who  has  described  life  on 
the  Western  Reserve,  from  1800  to  1820,  has  laid 
stress  upon  the  irreligious  character  of  the  pioneer 
settlements,  and  especially  that  of  the  village  of 
Cleveland.  The  Reverend  Samuel  C.  Aiken,  D.D., 
in  his  twenty-fifth  anniversary  sermon  delivered  in 
1860,  gave  one  analysis  of  early  conditions.  Many  of 
the  first  settlers  were  not  friendly  to  religious  insti- 
tutions. There  was  an  absence  of  law  and  order,  of 
comfortable  homes,  schools,  organized  churches,  and 
the  luxuries  of  their  former  life.  A  considerable 
number  had  fled  from  New  England,  not  only  to 
improve  their  material  conditions,  but  also  to  escape 
puritanical  restraints  and  taxes  imposed  in  New 
England  for  the  support  of  the  "standing  orders  of 
the  church." 

The  New  England  Sabbath,  enforced  by  rigid 
authority,  had  become  to  many  a  "weariness."  The 
sanctuary  had  little  attractiveness  to  a  portion  of  the 
rising  generation  in  the  northeastern  states,  while  the 
rigid  family  discipline  maintained  in  the  community 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  33 

by  the  "constructors  of  public  morals"  had  become 
irksome.  In  order  to  free  themselves  from  such  con- 
ditions many  sought  the  new  and  cheap  lands  of 
Ohio,  where  they  could  believe  anything  or  nothing 
to  their  hearts'  content,  without  trouble  from  the 
civil  authorities.  For  a  number  of  years  certain 
leaders  in  Cleveland  were  of  this  class;  hence,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Aiken,  a  majority  of  the  first  settlers  either 
embraced  infidelity,  or  were  inclined  in  religious 
matters  to  a  negative  position.  References  have  been 
made  by  writers  to  an  efligy  of  Christ  carried  in 
ribald  procession,  and  to  a  mock  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  but  there  is  other  testimony  to  the 
effect  that  too  dark  a  picture  of  religious  conditions 
on  the  Western  Reserve,  prior  to  1820,  ought  not  to 
be  drawn. 

Deacon  Moses  White,  the  Baptist  layman  who  was 
elected  secretary  of  the  first  Sunday  School,  organized 
in  1819,  a  year  before  the  founding  of  the  Old  Stone 
Church,  and  who  worshiped  with  the  Presbyterians 
until  1833,  when  the  First  Baptist  Church  was 
established,  was  still  an  esteemed  deacon  in  his 
church,  when  in  1870  the  Reverend  William  H. 
Goodrich,  D.D.,  delivered  the  semicentennial  ser- 
mon. At  the  Sunday  evening  service  held  at  that 
time.  Deacon  White  spoke  of  the  years  prior  to  1820, 
and  asserted  that  the  wickedness  of  the  community 
had  been  exaggerated  in  many  historical  sketches. 

According  to  the  venerable  Baptist  authority,  when 
the  first  ball  was  held  in  Cleveland  the  region  had  to 
be  scoured  for  miles  in  order  to  secure  young  ladies 


34  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

sufficient  in  number  to  form  dancing  partners,  and 
inasmuch  as  there  were  no  fiddlers  in  Cleveland  an 
appeal  for  musicians  had  to  be  sent  to  Newburgh. 
Excessive  illness  reigned  in  Cleveland,  and  when  there 
were  no  ministers  to  conduct  funerals  laymen  at  times 
officiated.  According  to  Deacon  White  the  first  ser- 
mon to  which  he  listened  after  having  reached  Cleve- 
land was  from  the  text,  *'One  sinner  destroyeth  much 
good,"  but  the  preacher's  influence  over  the  com- 
munity had  been  greatly  impaired,  not  by  any 
flagrant  sin  on  his  part,  but  mainly  on  account  of  a 
lack  of  professional  common  sense.  He  had  incurred 
the  resentment  of  the  community,  because  while  con- 
ducting the  funeral  of  a  prominent  citizen  the  soul 
of  the  departed  had  been  consigned  to  an  unpleasant 
destiny. 

At  the  semicentennial  celebration  in  the  Stone 
Church,  Deacon  White  presented  a  memorandum 
which  he  had  kept  in  1818,  when  an  informal  religious 
society  had  conducted  during  that  year  eight  Sunday 
services.  The  Reverend  Thomas  Barr,  of  the  Euclid 
Church,  had  preached  three  Sundays  and  had  re- 
ceived for  his  compensation  eight  dollars  ten  cents, 
evidently  the  total  ofi^erings  taken  at  the  meetings. 
Other  ministers  had  received  three  dollars  per  Sun- 
day; while  the  total  amount  raised  during  the  year 
had  been  forty-three  dollars  twenty-nine  cents,  leav- 
ing a  balance  of  one  dollar  thirty  cents  in  the  treasury. 
Deacon  Moses  White  asserted  that  when  the  sub- 
scription list  was  passed  for  the  support  of  the 
Reverend  Randolph  Stone,  at  the  organization  of  the 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  35 

Stone  Church,  it  had  been  signed  by  fifty-seven  men, 
and  that  included  almost  every  male  inhabitant  in 
the  village.  Poverty  rather  than  unbelief  may  have 
had  more  to  do  with  the  slow  development  of  re- 
ligious institutions  on  the  Western  Reserve.  One 
thing  is  certain,  and  that  is  that  many  faithful 
Christians  evinced  a  wholesome  disposition  to  lay 
aside  their  shibboleths,  and  to  unite  most  cordially 
in  doing  all  that  they  could  to  lay  foundations  of 
churches,  which  slowly  but  surely  extended  a  benefi- 
cent influence  throughout  the  community. 

Divine  services  were  occasionally  held  in  homes, 
whenever  an  itinerant  preacher  paid  the  settlement 
a  visit.  If  a  pioneer  had  been  carried  to  the  tomb 
without  religious  ceremony,  upon  the  later  arrival  of 
a  preacher  a  memorial  discourse  was  wont  to  be 
delivered. 

Thirteen  years  before  the  Stone  Church  was  organ- 
ized, a  Presbyterian  church  had  been  founded  at 
Euclid,  afterwards  known  as  Collamer,  but  now  East 
Cleveland.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  present 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  East  Cleveland,  organ- 
ized August  27,  1807,  by  five  families  from  Washing- 
ton, Pa.,  who  had  constructed  rude  homes 
in  the  unbroken  forest.  The  missionary  in  charge  of 
the  founding  of  this  "Church  of  Christ  in  Euclid"  was 
the  Reverend  William  Wick,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio. 
One  tradition  has  it  that  the  first  service  was  held  in 
the  barn  of  Andrew  Mcllrath;  another  that  the 
charter  members  gathered  in  the  home  of  Nathaniel 


36  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Doan,  the  blacksmith  at  Doan's  Corners,  his  name 
having  been  first  on  the  church  roll. 

On  March  15,  1810,  this  church  was  placed  under 
the  care  of  the  Hartford  Presbytery,  which  included 
the  Western  Reserve,  without  a  western  boundary, 
and  was  connected  with  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh. 
The  first  pastor  was  the  Reverend  Thomas  Barr,  who 
served  from  1810  to  1820.  He  was  the  most  pro- 
nounced Presbyterian  minister  in  northern  Ohio. 
Occasionally  he  preached  in  Cleveland  and  at  New- 
burgh,  while  earnest  Christians  frequently  drove 
from  the  two  villages  on  the  Sabbath  to  worship  in 
the  log  church  at  Euclid.  During  the  term  of  its  use 
that  crude  sanctuary  was  said  to  have  been  the  only 
church  building  on  the  Reserve.  The  first  burial  in 
the  cemetery  which  still  adjoins  the  modern  stone 
edifice,  in  which  the  East  Cleveland  Presbyterian 
Church  now  worships,  was  that  of  the  Reverend 
Thomas  Barr's  wife,  who  died  in  1812.  If  the  Stone 
Church  is  affectionately  termed  by  Cleveland  Pres- 
byterians "The  Mother  of  us  all,"  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  East  Cleveland  may  be  called  "The 
Grandmother  of  us  all." 

The  first  of  the  "Stated  Supplies"  to  serve  the 
Stone  Church  during  the  first  fifteen  years  of  its 
existence  was  the  Reverend  Randolph  Stone,  one  of 
the  two  representatives  delegated  by  Portage  Presby- 
tery to  effect  the  organization.  Born  at  Bristol,  Conn., 
in  1790,  he  was  left  an  orphan  in  early  life.  A  friendly 
minister  prepared  him  for  the  sophomore  class  at 
Yale  College,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1817.    He 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  37 

was  appointed  at  that  time  ''butler,"  the  last  person 
to  hold  that  office  in  Yale  College.  After  teaching 
at  Hopkins  Grammar  School,  his  theological  training 
was  received  under  the  tutelage  of  Dr.  Timothy 
Dwight.  Licensure  was  received  September  9,  1817, 
at  the  hands  of  the  New  Haven  West  Association, 
and  the  young  minister  at  once  set  out  for  the  West- 
ern Reserve  as  a  home  missionary.  There  had  come 
the  opportunity  of  succeeding  the  Reverend  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Trumbull  at  North  Haven,  Conn.,  and  likewise 
a  call  from  Warren,  Ohio,  but  the  pastorate  at  Mor- 
gan, Ashtabula  County,  Ohio,  was  accepted.  This  was 
an  offshoot  of  the  Austinburgh  Church  founded  by 
the  Reverend  Joseph  Badger.  Ordained  and  installed 
May  19,  1819,  at  thirty  years  of  age  he  served  the 
Stone  Church  in  addition  to  his  work  at  the  Morgan 
Church.  This  was  made  possible  on  account  of  the 
**part-time"  pastoral  settlements  then  in  vogue. 
Having  assisted  in  organizing  the  Old  Stone  Church 
he  was  able  to  give  the  new  enterprise  "one-third 
part-time"  until  April,  1821. 

After  nine  years'  residence  at  Morgan,  Ashtabula 
County,  the  Reverend  Randolph  Stone  edited  The 
Observer,  the  only  Presbyterian  paper  published  on 
the  Western  Reserve.  In  1830  he  returned  east,  and 
for  five  years  supplied  churches.  Records  show  that 
he  was  again  on  the  Reserve  at  the  Willoughby  Church 
in  1836.  At  the  Ohio  State  University,  Athens,  Ohio, 
a  year  was  spent  in  the  chair  of  history  and  English 
literature.  He  probably  died  about  1843  at  Parma, 
Ohio,  when  fifty-five  years  of  age. 


38  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Comparatively  little  is  known  of  the  Reverend 
William  McLean,  the  second  stated  supply.  Evi- 
dently the  first  Judge  Samuel  Williamson  had  in- 
duced this  minister  to  come  to  Cleveland  from  Mead- 
ville,  Pa.,  to  teach  in  the  community,  as  well  as  to 
preach.  He  was  one  of  the  first  teachers  in  the 
Academy,  and  there  is  a  tradition  that  when  the 
rumbling  of  an  approaching  thunderstorm  was  heard 
he  would  raise  his  hands  and  say  with  great  solem- 
nity, "Silence!  This  is  the  voice  of  God,"  and  there 
was  silence  that  could  be  felt.  While  teaching,  this 
minister  must  have  supplied  churches,  among  which 
was  the  Brooklyn  Church,  afterwards  the  Ohio  City 
congregation,  his  agreement  with  the  Stone  Church 
having  bound  him  to  "three-fourths  time  for  one 
year."  In  March  of  1821  he  was  married  to  Abigail 
Clark,  of  Newburgh,  Ohio. 

Although  this  supply  service  was  brief,  the  record 
of  the  congregational  activities  is  interesting.  When 
the  church  met  "to  examine  the  state  of  personal 
religion  and  to  devise  the  best  means  to  prosper 
Zion's  Kingdom,"  men  and  women  constituted  the 
assembly,  but  whenever  ecclesiastical  business  was  to 
be  transacted,  only  the  "Male  Members"  were  in- 
vited, as  shown  by  this  minute: 

May  6,  1823 -The  Male  Members  of  the  Church 
[only  four  of  them]  met  to  decide  what  form  of  govern- 
ment this  Church  would  adopt,  and  time  when  it  is 
expedient  to  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Both  propositions  were  postponed  to  a  later  meeting, 
when  the  brethren  adopted  the  following: 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  39 

Resolved,  that  this  Church  would  prefer  the  Presby- 
terian mode  of  church  government,  but  under  existing 
circumstances  it  does  not  think  it  prudent  to  act  upon 
the  subject. 

Such  discretion  on  the  part  of  the  ^'brethren"  could 
not  have  been  prompted  by  any  fear  of  the  "sisters," 
but  the  statement  reveals  a  peculiar  vacillation 
during  the  first  fifteen  years,  on  the  part  of  the  *'Male 
Members,"  between  the  Presbyterian  and  Congre- 
gational modes  of  church  government. 

Under  the  care  of  the  Portage  Presbytery  the 
church  sent  a  delegate  to  a  stated  meeting  as  early 
as  1822.  The  next  year  the  ''Male  Members"  tarried 
after  a  Sabbath  service  to  resolve: 

That  we  esteem  it  both  a  privilege  and  duty  to  send  a 
delegate  to  the  first  meeting  of  the  Huron  Presbytery 
to  be  held  at  Brownhelm. 

Elisha  Taylor  was  appointed  to  serve. 

The  Reverend  William  McLean  ministered  until 
January,  1823,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev- 
erend Stephen  I.  Bradstreet,  who  was  employed  for 
"one  year  at  half  time,"  and  this  minister  served  from 
September,  1823,  to  January  24,  1830,  a  period  of 
over  six  years. 

The  Reverend  Stephen  Ingalls  Bradstreet  was  a 
direct  descendant  from  Governor  Simon  Bradstreet, 
of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  and  his  famous  wife, 
Anna  Dudley  Bradstreet,  the  colonial  poetess.  Born 
at  Greenfield,  New  Hampshire,  in  1794,  and  gradu- 
ated from  Dartmouth  College  in  1819,  he  studied 
theology    at    Andover    Seminary.     Delicate    health 


40  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

having  precluded  his  entering  upon  foreign  missionary 
work,  the  only  satisfactory  alternative  was  that  of 
seeking  destitute  home  missionary  fields.  He  was 
first  sent  to  Lynchburg  and  Staunton,  Virginia,  but 
convinced  that  the  experience  was  too  easy  a  west- 
ward preaching  itineracy  was  undertaken,  until 
Cleveland  was  attained.  One  reason  for  this  course 
was  that  Mr.  John  W.  Willey,  the  fifth  lawyer  to 
locate  in  Cleveland,  and  elected  in  1836  the  city's 
first  mayor,  had  been  a  classmate  at  Dartmouth 
College  of  the  earnest  home  missionary.  Lawyer 
Willey  had  come  to  Cleveland  in  1822,  and  the  college 
chums  were  about  thirty  years  of  age  when  thus  re- 
united. Cleveland  had  a  population  of  five  hundred, 
and  when  the  Reverend  Stephen  I.  Bradstreet  closed 
his  supply  of  the  Stone  Church  in  1830,  the  city  was 
credited  with  one  thousand  seventy-five  inhabitants. 

The  opening  of  the  Ohio  Canal  from  Akron  to 
Cleveland  boomed  the  lake  city,  and  a  few  tons  of 
coal  were  shipped  by  canal  from  Akron  to  Cleveland, 
whose  citizens  disdained  giving  the  doubtful  fuel 
market,  as  long  as  there  was  abundance  of  wood. 
The  primitive  log  court-house  was  displaced  in  1828 
by  a  new  court  of  justice  on  the  southwestern  section 
of  the  Public  Square.  Four  years  later  a  new  jail  was 
located  on  Champlain  Street,  directly  in  rear  of  the 
second  court-house. 

During  the  years  of  the  Bradstreet  supply  the  Stone 
Church  exhibited  more  comprehensive  congrega- 
tional activities.  At  each  communion  an  offering  was 
taken    "to    aid    the    General    Assembly's    Commis- 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  41 

sioner's   Fund."     The   "Male   Members"   convened 
April  14,  1825,  to  resolve: 

That  this  Church  and  Society  will  ask  the  assistance 
of  the  United  Domestick  Missionary  Society  of  New 
York,  in  order  to  settle  or  retain  a  minister  in  this  place, 
and  that  a  meeting  of  the  Society  be  held  to  make 
arrangements  for  accomplishing  the  object. 

According  to  this  record  the  "Male  Members" 
welcomed  the  women  to  joint  responsibility  whenever 
financial  affairs  were  to  be  discussed.  The  appeal 
forwarded  to  New  York  was  "for  aid  to  the  Reverend 
Stephen  I.  Bradstreet  for  Missionary  Labour  in  the 
towns  adjoining,  in  consideration  of  his  preaching 
one-half  time  amongst  us  in  Cleveland."  There  evi- 
dently was  no  self-interest  in  this  application,  since 
it  was  for  the  support  of  a  home  missionary  in  needy 
fields  near  Cleveland,  whose  pioneer  Presbyterian 
church  paid  for  its  own  half-time  claim  upon  the 
missionary's  service.  The  spirit  of  self-support,  as 
well  as  of  missionary  endeavor,  so  characteristic  of 
the  whole  life  of  the  Stone  Church,  was  thus  early 
manifested. 

When  the  appeal  was  forwarded  to  the  New  York 
Society,  relative  to  the  wider  usefulness  of  the  Rev- 
erend Stephen  I.  Bradstreet,  an  offering  was  taken 
for  the  "Maumee  Mission,"  established  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Indians  of  northwestern  Ohio.  In  1828 
another  offering  was  taken  for  the  support  of  a  chap- 
lain in  the  Ohio  Penitentiary.  The  Reverend  Stephen 
I.  Bradstreet  received  one  hundred  dollars  annually 
for  the  part-time  service  given  the  Stone  Church.  He 


42  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

was  ably  assisted  not  only  by  Mr.  Elisha  Taylor,  but 
also  by  Deacon  Samuel  L  Hamlen,  both  ''dyed-in-the 
wool"  Presbyterians.  Samuel  I.  Hamlen,  a  carpenter 
by  trade,  also  served  as  janitor  of  the  church,  in  which 
he  performed  many  arduous  duties.  Not  only  was 
there  the  tedious  care  of  wood  fires,  but  likewise  the 
keeping  of  the  room  lighted  by  means  of  tallow 
candles,  some  of  which  weighed  a  pound.  These  were 
hung  in  high-back  candlesticks  upon  the  walls,  and 
needed  frequent  snuffing.  Occasionally  this  periodic 
attention  left  the  worshipers  in  darkness.  Without 
the  convenience  of  matches,  the  candles  had  to  be 
relighted  from  one  in  the  sexton's  lantern.  Deacon 
Hamlen  was  a  good  singer,  and  when  no  minister  was 
available  he  read  sermons  very  acceptably.  A  con- 
scientious man,  strict  in  religious  duties  and  highly 
exemplary  in  life,  he  held  the  sincere  respect  of  the 
community. 

The  reception  of  members  into  church  fellowship 
was  delegated  to  the  pastor  and  "Male  Members," 
and  for  a  number  of  years  those  received  by  certi- 
ficate were  examined,  both  as  to  doctrinal  and  experi- 
mental knowledge  of  Christianity,  as  were  those  who 
came  upon  confession  of  their  faith,  while  both 
classes  were  "propounded  as  candidates."  An  ex- 
ample of  the  scrupulous  care  exercised  in  this  matter 
was  the  case  of  Francis  Williamson,  who  presented  a 
letter  from  a  Presbyterian  church  in  Belfast,  Ireland. 
On  January  13,  1825,  this  individual 

Came  forward   and  requested  to  be  admitted   into  this 
Church.     No  member  of  the  Church   being  acquainted 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  43 

with  the  religious  character  of  F.  Williamson  it  was  voted 
to  defer  his  admission  until  the  next  communion,  and  to 
invite  him  in  the  meantime  to  commune  with  the  Church 
on  the  validity  of  the  Church  in  Belfast. 

How  this  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  accepted  the  pro- 
posed scrutiny  of  his  rehgious  status  was  not  re- 
corded, but  before  the  time  for  final  action  came  he 
had  removed  to  another  place. 

That  the  law  and  the  gospel  were  not  in  conflict 
during  the  Bradstreet  period  of  supply  is  shown  in 
the  minute  of  April  14,  1823: 

Resolved,  that  Judge  Kelley  be  requested  to  preside  in 
the  religious  meetings  of  this  Society  on  the  Sabbath 
when  we  are  destitute  of  preaching. 

The  church  was  formally  incorporated  January  5, 
1827,  when  "twenty-eight  gentlemen  were  created  a 
body  corporate  and  politic,  under  the  name  of  the 
'First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleveland.'  "  The 
names  of  the  incorporators  present  a  remarkable  list 
of  men  influential  in  the  earliest  years  of  Cleveland. 
The  applicants  for  the  charter  are  worthy  of  a  brief 
description  of  their  professional  and  business  careers: 

Samuel  Williamson  came  in  1810  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, proprietor  of  a  tanning  business,  one  of  the 
first  trustees  of  the  city,  judge  of  Common  Pleas 
Court  and  founder  of  a  family  long  identified  with  the 
city  and  the  Stone  Church. 

John  W.  Willey,  a  young  New  Hampshire  lawyer, 
graduate  of  Dartmouth  College,  who  came  to  the 
city  in  1822,  was  a  judge,  state  senator,  and  Cleve- 
land's first  mayor. 


44  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Horace  Perry,  for  thirty  years  better  known  than 
his  father,  Nathan  Perry,  who  came  with  the  first 
party  of  surveyors  to  Lake  County  and  then  to 
Cleveland  in  1806,  was  a  large  land  owner. 

Ashbel  W.  Walworth,  son  of  Judge  John  Wal- 
worth, who  came  from  Connecticut  to  Fairport,  Ohio, 
in  1800  and  to  Cleveland  in  1806,  held  many  offices 
in  the  early  days  of  the  latter  city,  and  for  seventeen 
years  was  a  collector  of  customs. 

Dr.  David  Long  came  at  twenty-three  years  of  age 
from  Hebron,  N.Y.,  and  settled  as  Cleveland's  first 
physician  in  1810.  For  a  while  he  also  conducted  a 
dry-goods  business  on  Superior  Street,  until  the  in- 
crease of  population  demanded  his  full  professional 
attention. 

Jarvis  F.  Hanks,  not  only  a  sign  painter,  but  also 
a  portrait  painter,  was  first  superintendent  of  the 
Euclid  Avenue  Congregational  Church  Sunday 
School.  His  last  residence  was  on  Euclid  Avenue, 
corner  of  East  Ninety-third  Street,  at  the  present 
site  of  the  Wason  home. 

Peter  M.  Weddell,  a  merchant  whose  store  on 
Superior  Street,  corner  of  Bank  Street,  was  first  sup- 
planted by  the  Weddell  House  and  then  by  the 
Rockefeller  Building,  came  from  Pennsylvania  in 
1820. 

Samuel  Starkweather,  a  graduate  of  Brown  Uni- 
versity, who  came  from  Massachusetts  in  1827,  was 
a  born  orator,  a  judge,  a  collector  of  customs,  and 
for  five  years  mayor. 


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Redlcfd  Facsimile  of  a  Portion  of  a  Page  of  the 
Record  Book  of  the  Society 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  47 

Samuel  I.  Hamlen  was  a  highly  respected  car- 
penter, who  came  from  Massachusetts  'n  1818. 

Samuel  Cowles,  a  graduate  of  Williams  College, 
who  came  from  Connecticut  in  1819,  was  a  lawyer  of 
wide  reputation,  a  judge,  and  very  successful  business 
man. 

Jewett  Prime,  a  young  man  from  New  England, 
became  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Cleveland  Herald 
in  1826,  but  died  two  years  later. 

William  Bliss  was  a  jeweler  who  came  from  Con- 
necticut in  1816. 

George  Kirk  came  from  Canal  Fulton,  Ohio,  in 
1820,  and  became  Cleveland's  first  "City  Marshal." 

David  H.  Beardsley  came  from  Connecticut  in 
1826.  He  was  a  school  teacher,  state  senator,  asso- 
ciate judge,  for  twenty-three  years  collector  of  the 
Ohio  Canal,  auditor  and  recorder  of  Cuyahoga 
County,  who  worked  in  the  log  court-house,  and 
whose  beautiful  penmanship  is  preserved  not  only  in 
the  court  records,  but  also  in  the  Stone  Church 
records,  he  having  been  the  first  secretary  of  the 
Church  Society.  His  daughter  became  the  wife  of 
William  Bingham. 

James  Douglass  was  a  cabinet-maker  who  came 
about  1825  and  who  left  the  city  in  1837. 

Nathan  Perry,  Jr.,  could  speak  several  Indian 
languages.  He  was  a  fur-trader,  the  founder  of  Perry 
estate  on  Euclid  Avenue,  corner  of  East  Twenty- 
second  Street.  His  daughter  became  the  wife  of 
Senator  Henry  B.  Payne. 

Herchel  Foote,  an  enterprising  young  man,  came 


48  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

from  Utica,  N.  Y.,  in  1819,  to  establish  a  book- 
store on  the  site  of  the  present  Marshall  Drug  Com- 
pany, Superior  Avenue  and  Public  Square.  He  was 
a  good  singer,  the  leader  of  the  Stone  Church  and 
other  choirs.  In  later  life  he  became  justice  of  the 
peace  and  postmaster  in  East  Cleveland. 

Gurdon  Fitch  came  in  1826  at  the  age  of  forty 
years.  He  was  a  tavern-keeper,  active  in  city  affairs, 
father  of  Miss  Sarah  Fitch,  who  was  long  associated 
with  the  work  of  the  Stone  Ch-urch. 

Thomas  Davis,  a  shoemaker,  came  from  England 
in  1820.  He  had  a  shop  on  Erie  Street,  where  the 
Cleveland  Trust  Company  now  is  located.  He  be- 
came a  worker  in  the  Mayflower  Mission  and  was  a 
charter  member  of  the  Woodland  Avenue  Presby- 
terian Church.  He  was  the  father  of  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Davis  and  Hunt  Hardware  Company. 

Thomas  P.  May  came  from  New  York  State  in 
1825.  He  bought  Elisha  Taylor's  dry  goods  store. 
His  daughter  married  Burritt  Horton  of  the  Alcott 
and  Horton  wholesale  dry  goods  firm. 

Edmund  Clark  came  from  Buffalo  in  1825,  when 
twenty-six  years  of  age.  He  became  the  partner  of 
Peter  M.  Weddell.  He  was  a  merchant,  railroad  capi- 
talist, banker,  and  insurance  company  president. 

Ziba  Willis,  a  printer,  came  with  his  brother  in 
1819,  at  twenty-four  years  of  age.  He  was  the 
founder  and  editor  of  the  Cleveland  Herald,  which 
existed  for  sixty-six  years. 

Philip  B.  Andrews  came  in  1820,  when  twenty-four 
years  of  age.    He  was  a  gunsmith,  iron  founder, 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  49 

engine  builder,  and  the  brother-in-law  of  Charles  G. 
Finney,  of  Oberlin  College. 

James  Belden  was  the  proprietor  of  Merwin's 
tavern,  afterwards  the  Mansion  House. 

Richard  Hilliard  was  a  prominent  merchant  from 
1824  to  1856.  He  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Hilliard  and  Hayes,  which  handled  at  first  retail  and 
later  wholesale  dry  goods.  His  home  became  in  turn 
the  residence  of  Governor  Todd  and  then  of  the 
Grasselli  family. 

John  Blair  came  from  Maryland  in  1819.  His  first 
home  was  on  St.  Clair  Street,  the  present  site  of 
Engine  Company  No.  1.  Later  he  moved  to  Pros- 
pect Street,  corner  of  Blair  Lane,  now  Fern  Court. 
He  was  the  owner  of  warehouses,  was  in  the  com- 
mission fur  business,  and  had  other  interests. 

Of  E.  C.  Hickcox  little  is  known. 

Few  pioneer  churches  were  blessed  with  as  in- 
fluential a  body  of  incorporators  as  was  the  case  of 
the  Stone  Church.  At  their  first  meeting,  held  the 
first  Monday  in  April,  1827,  Judge  Samuel  Cowles 
called  the  meeting  to  order,  and  Dr.  David  Long  was 
chosen  secretary  pro  tevi.  Judge  Cowles  became  the 
first  president  of  the  society;  David  H.  Beardsley 
the  secretary,  and  Peter  M.  Weddell  treasurer. 
The  first  board  of  trustees  was  composed  of  Samuel 
Williamson,  Samuel  I.  Hamlen,  Ashbel  W.  Wal- 
worth, Horace  Perry,  and  Dr.  David  Long. 

At  this  first  meeting  in  1827  the  problem  of  securing 
a  house  of  worship  was  discussed,  but  no  definite 
action  was  taken  until  April  8,  1828,  when  subscrip- 


50  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

tions  were  solicited.  A  year  later  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  estimate  the  cost  of  a  modest  structure, 
but  having  failed  to  act,  Samuel  I.  Hamlen,  the  car- 
penter, was  requested  to  ascertain  the  expense  of 
erecting  a  wooden  building,  forty-five  by  sixty  feet, 
without  basement  and  with  steeple  seventy-five  feet 
high;  also  the  expense  of  a  building  fifty  by  seventy 
feet,  with  a  steeple  one  hundred  feet  in  height.  Mr. 
John  M,  Sterling,  a  prominent  lawyer,  and  father  of 
Dr.  Elisha  Sterling,  one  of  the  best  known  surgeons 
in  Cleveland,  was  appointed  to  wait  upon  the  sub- 
scribers, in  order  to  obtain  their  consent  to  either 
plan  for  a  wooden  structure.  He  reported  their  ad- 
verse attitude  to  anything  but  a  brick  or  stone  edifice, 
as  specified  in  the  original  subscription  paper.  The 
society  then  voted  to  circulate  another  paper  for  the 
construction  of  a  wooden  building  forty-five  by 
sixty-five  feet  in  dimensions.  Dr.  David  Long,  who 
was  given  the  task  of  securing  signatures,  reported 
no  interest  in  the  proposition. 

Dr.  Long  then  offered  to  rent,  for  one  hundred 
dollars  a  year,  the  large  room  in  the  third  story  of  his 
new  brick  block  on  Superior  Street,  where  the 
American  House  now  stands.  The  room  was  to  be 
finished  for  the  purpose,  leaving  the  slips  and  pulpit 
to  be  constructed  by  the  church  society,  and  to  remain 
its  property.  The  trustees  were  granted  power  to 
sell  all  or  part  of  the  slips,  as  they  deemed  expedient, 
such  sales  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  equipment.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  sale  of  slips  or  pews,  as  a 
mode  of  church  construction,  as  well  as  of  support. 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  51 

Although  the  sale  of  pews  continued  in  the  construc- 
tion of  later  Stone  Church  buildings,  it  has  generally 
disappeared  as  a  practice  among  Christian  churches. 

In  1830  Shoemaker  Thomas  Davis  became  a 
trustee.  When  at  twenty  years  of  age  he  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  River,  concluding  that  the 
cluster  of  cabins  could  not  be  Cleveland,  he  walked 
to  Newburgh  before  he  discovered  his  mistake.  His 
first  customer  came  Sunday  morning.  "I  never  work 
on  Sunday,"  he  said,  whereupon  the  customer  re- 
plied, 'There's  no  such  day  in  this  town."  "Then 
I  have  brought  it,"  said  the  shoemaker,  who  rain  or 
shine  walked  each  Sunday  to  the  Euclid  Church,  now 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  East  Cleveland.  On 
April  4,  1831,  the  church  society  accepted  subscrip- 
tions secured  the  previous  April  and  decided  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  work  of  building.  A  minute  shows  that 
a  lot  had  been  given  to  the  society  by  Mrs.  Sophia  L. 
Perry,  probably  for  a  church  site.  This  lot  was  sold 
and  the  proceeds  applied  to  the  building  fund. 

No  building  enterprise,  however,  was  inaugurated 
during  the  leadership  of  the  Reverend  Stephen  I. 
Bradstreet,  the  close  of  whose  important  ministerial 
service  in  the  Stone  Church  was  thus  recorded: 

January  2J!f,  1830.  The  Rev.  Stephen  L  Bradstreet, 
who  has  labored  in  this  Church  and  congregation  for  some 
years  past,  closed  his  labors  by  preaching  this  day  his 
farewell  sermon. 

In  his  twenty-fifth  anniversary  sermon  Dr.  Aiken 
had  this  to  say  of  this  minister: 

Of  the   six   clergymen   who   supplied    this   church    the 


52  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Rev.  Stephen  I.  Bradstreet  labored  much  the  longest. 
Often  have  I  heard  him  spoken  of  by  the  old  inhabitants, 
as  an  able,  self-denying  and  faithful  minister,  who  re- 
ceived for  his  services  more  affection  than  money. 

There  are  other  sources  of  information,  however, 
that  should  exalt  this  servant  of  Christ  in  the  esti- 
mation of  this  generation.  After  two  attempts  had 
been  made  to  establish  a  Presbyterian  family  paper 
on  the  Western  Reserve,  the  Reverend  Stephen  I. 
Bradstreet  founded  in  1834  the  Observer,  which, 
printed  at  Hudson,  Ohio,  continued  an  influential 
religious  journal  until  it  was  finally  absorbed  by  the 
New  York  Evangelist.  When  preparations  were  made 
to  found  Western  Reserve  College  at  Hudson,  Ohio, 
each  one  of  the  three  Presbyteries  on  the  Reserve 
appointed  two  ministers  and  two  laymen  to  consti- 
tute a  board  of  managers,  or  trustees.  Huron  Pres- 
bytery selected  the  Reverend  Stephen  I.  Bradstreet 
as  one  of  its  two  ministerial  representatives.  The 
corner-stone  of  the  first  building  erected  on  the 
campus  of  Western  Reserve  College  was  laid  April 
26,  1826,  with  elaborate  ceremony  in  the  presence  of 
a  large  assembly. 

A  procession  was  formed  at  Mr.  Hudson's  home  and 
moved  to  the  meeting-house,  where  there  was  prayer 
and  singing.  The  procession  then  moved  to  the  college 
campus,  where  an  address  was  delivered  in  Latin  by 
Rev.  Caleb  Pitkin,  and  the  stone  was  laid  with  Masonic 
ceremonies.  The  procession  then  returned  to  the  meet- 
ing-house, where  Mr.  Bradstreet  delivered  an  address  on 
the  principles  which  actuated  the  trustees  in  the  work 
they  had  undertaken. 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  53 

The  address  was  printed  in  the  Cleveland   Heraldy 
May  5,  1826. 

This  home  missionary,  who  suppHed  for  six  years 
the  Stone  Church,  must  have  been  held  in  high 
esteem  by  his  brethren,  in  respect  to  both  his  minis- 
terial and  to  his  educational  ability.  Afterwards  he 
was  instrumental  in  raising  funds  for  Western  Re- 
serve College,  which  early  gained  the  name  of  "The 
Yale  of  the  West."  The  life  of  the  Reverend  Stephen 
I.  Bradstreet  "burned  out"  in  January  of  1837,  when 
only  forty-three  years  of  age.  Mrs.  Bradstreet  was 
an  accomplished  writer,  and  contributed  under  the 
name  "Sophronia"  many  articles  to  the  religious 
press.  She  and  her  husband  were  long  remembered 
in  Cleveland  for  their  work  of  caring  for  the  sick  and 
dying,  in  the  great  epidemic  that  attended  the  open- 
ing of  the  Ohio  Canal.  She  survived  her  husband 
twenty  years.  The  graves  of  the  Reverend  and  Mrs. 
Stephen  I.  Bradstreet  are,  together  with  those  of  two 
children,  at  the  right  of  the  western  entrance  of  Erie 
Street  Cemetery.  Only  the  inscription  "Rev.  Stephen 
I.  Bradstreet"  can  be  deciphered  at  the  top  of  the 
modest  slab  of  marble.  A  son  graduated  in  1850  from 
Western  Reserve  College  and  died  in  California.  The 
only  remaining  son,  Edward  P.  Bradstreet,  Esq.,  is 
the  oldest  member  of  the  Cincinnati  Bar. 

The  shortest  period  of  supply  in  the  Stone  Church 
was  thus  recorded: 

On  the  second  Sabbath  of  June,  1830,  the  Rev.  John 

Sessions    commenced    his    labors,    as    a    minister   of  the 

Gospel  in  this  Church  and  Congregation,  having  been 

emp'oyed  to  preach  for  one  year. 


54  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  following  is  the  sequel: 

August  2,  1830.  After  twelve  weeks'  labor,  Rev.  John 
Sessions  was  released  from  the  contract  formerly  made 
with  him. 

The  little  group  of  Presbyterians  in  Cleveland  then 
welcomed  a  theological  student,  when  on  July  10, 
1831,  Mr.  Samuel  Hutchings  was  employed  for  one 
year.  In  many  records  the  name  has  often  been 
spelled  "Hutchins,*'  but  "Hutchings"  was  the  correct 
form.  Born  in  New  York  City,  September  15,  1806, 
and  prepared  at  Bloomfield,  N.  J.,  for  Williams  Col- 
lege, he  was  graduated  from  the  latter  institution  in 
1828,  and  three  years  later  from  Princeton  Seminary. 

The  Presbytery  of  Cleveland  was  formed  in  1830, 
and  this  young  man  was  its  first  case  of  ordination, 
November  8,  1831,  at  Elyria,  Ohio.  In  the  fall  of 
1831  the  Reverend  Samuel  Hutchings  returned  to 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  to  marry  Miss  Elizabeth  Coit 
Lathrop,  who  was  a  sister  of  Christopher  Lathrop, 
one  of  the  earliest  deacons  of  the  Stone  Church,  who 
came  to  Cleveland  in  1831.  This  pioneer  deacon  had 
probably  been  drawn  to  the  Western  Reserve  for  the 
reason  that  the  Reverend  Daniel  Lathrop,  a  brother, 
had  previously  settled  at  Elyria,  Ohio,  where  he  was 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Young  Hutch- 
ings had  evidently  offered  himself  to  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and 
was  awaiting  appointment  to  some  field,  when  his 
brief  missionary  service  on  the  Western  Reserve  was 
undertaken,  for  he  was  appointed  a  missionary  to 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  55 

Ceylon,  India,  December  18,  1832,  soon  after  leaving 
Cleveland. 

Enthused  over  new  movements,  churches  often  act 
as  though  the  schemes  devised  for  advance  work  had 
never  before  been  employed.  A  Student  Volunteer 
Movement  started  at  Williamstown,  Mass.,  in  1806, 
long  before  the  more  modern  one.  "Surveys"  and 
"Every  Member  Canvasses"  appear  novel  methods 
of  efficiency  in  churches,  yet  years  ago  the  Stone 
Church  parish  was  divided  into  districts  for  the  house- 
to-house  visitation  of  lay  workers. 

Presbyterial  Ladies'  Missionary  Societies  were  con- 
sidered new  forty  years  ago,  but  a  Ladies'  Missionary 
Society  was  perfected  in  the  Stone  Church  almost 
ninety  years  ago,  when  in  1831  a  dozen  young  ladies 
formed  such  an  organization.  Miss  Sarah  C.  Van 
Tyne  (also  spelled  Van  Tine)  was  directress  of  the 
society,  and  Mrs.  Charlotte  Hutchings  the  first  secre- 
tary. These  women  went  later  to  foreign  fields,  the 
one  as  Mrs.  Sarah  Adams  to  the  Zulus  of  South 
Africa,  and  the  other  as  the  wife  of  the  Reverend 
Samuel  Hutchings  to  Ceylon.  The  late  Mrs.  Mary 
H.  Severance  served  for  twenty  years,  or  as  long  as 
her  membership  continued  in  the  Stone  Churchy 
as  secretary  of  this  Ladies'  Missionary  Society.  Fort- 
nightly and  then  again  monthly  meetings  were  held 
for  forty-two  years,  before  ladies'  missionary  societies 
became  the  rule  in  the  churches  of  Cleveland  Pres- 
bytery. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year's  service  rendered  by 
the  Reverend  Samuel  Hutchings,  or  September  9, 


56  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

1832,  the  following  action  was  taken  on  the  ever- 
recurring  problem  of  church  government : 

Whereas  some  of  the  members  of  the  Church  prefer  the 
Congregational  mode  of  church  government  and  some 
the  Presbyterian  mode,  therefore,  resolved,  that  the 
Officers  of  this  Church  be  to  all  members  who  prefer  the 
Congregational  mode  only  as  a  Standing  Committee  or 
Deacons,  and  that  such  members  shall  be  entitled  to  all 
privileges  in  this  Church,  which  they  could  enjoy  were 
there  only  a  Standing  Committee  or  Deacons  for  its 
officers.  But  all  members  professing  to  be  governed 
by  the  Presbyterian  mode  may  be  governed  by  Ruling 
Elders. 

Such  a  mixture  of  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 
ecclesiastical  practices  can  be  understood  only  by  a 
study  of  the  "Plan  of  Union"  to  be  described. 

The  subsequent  career  of  the  Reverend  Samuel 
Hutchings,  for  a  year  a  stated  supply  of  the  Stone 
Church,  is  interesting.  He  and  his  wife  sailed  in  1833 
for  Ceylon,  India,  where  ten  years  were  given  to  the 
revision  of  the  Tamil  Bible,  and  to  the  compilation 
of  the  Tamil-English  Dictionary.  On  account  of  ill 
health  the  Reverend  Mr.  Hutchings  returned  to  the 
United  States  and  was  released  in  1847.  He  served  at 
Brookfield,  Mass.,  1847-1851;  was  principal  of  a 
female  seminary.  New  Haven,  Conn.,  1851-1856; 
of  a  similar  school  at  Wilkesbarre,  Pa.,  1856-1857. 
After  supply  and  educational  work  he  removed  to 
Orange,  N.  J.,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  literary 
service  until  his  death,  September  1,  1895,  at  eighty- 
nine  years  of  age,  having  contributed  over  one 
thousand  articles  to  Chambers'  Encyclopedia.  In  addi- 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  57 

tion  almost  all  the  biographical  sketches  in  the 
Encyclopedia  of  Missions  were  prepared  by  him. 
Williams  College  in  1888  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  Hutchings  period  of  supply 
in  the  Old  Stone  Church,  agitation  again  arose  over 
the  possibility  of  erecting  a  permanent  church  home. 
While  plans  were  being  matured  an  effort  was  made 
to  secure  a  suitable  leader,  and  as  a  result  the  Rev- 
erend John  Keep,  of  Homer,  N.  Y.,  came  to  the  Stone 
Church  December  1,  1833.  Before  his  arrival  there 
had  arisen  one  more  discussion  over  the  mooted 
problem  of  church  government,  precipitated  this 
time  by  the  Congregational  element,  which  mustered 
an  extra  showing  of  strength,  according  to  the  follow- 
ing minute: 

Resolved,  that  whereas  more  than  twenty  of  the  Male 
Members  of  this  Church  have  pubHcly  expressed  their 
preference  for  the  Congregational  mode  of  Church 
Government,  and  but  three  their  preference  for  the 
Presbyterian  mode,  and,  whereas  there  have  been  five 
regularly  notified  meetings  of  the  Church  to  consider 
the  subject  of  change  and  each  one  invited  to  attend  and 
to  give  his  opinion,  Therefore  it  is  Resolved,  unanimously, 
that  this  Church  will  for  the  future  be  Congregational 
in  the  mode  of  government. 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  Reverend  John  Keep, 
thirty  persons  were  received  by  letter  into  the  church, 
and  five  upon  confession  of  their  faith.  With  this 
inspiring  ingathering,  however,  the  pendulum  of 
church  government  swung  toward  the  Presbyterian 
polity  of  sessional  control,  according  to  this  minute: 


58  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Resolved,  that  the  executive  business  of  this  church  in- 
cluding cases  of  discipHne,  the  examination  of  candidates 
for  admiss  on  into  the  church,  and  their  dismission  be  for 
the  period  of  one  year  from  this  date  committed  to 
seven  brethren. 

An  additional  proviso  was  adopted  in  the  matter  of 
discipline  giving  the  liberty  of  an  appeal  from  the 
"Executive  Committee,"  either  to  the  whole  church 
or  to  the  Presbytery. 

It  is  likewise  striking  that  at  the  time  the  congre- 
gation resolutely  assumed  the  task  of  providing  a 
permanent  house  of  worship,  the  missionary  spirit 
which  has  so  signally  marked  the  whole  history  of  the 
Stone  Church  increased.  Monthly  concerts  for  the 
study  of  missions  and  for  prayer  in  their  behalf  were 
inaugurated,  and  at  the  close  of  1832  an  offering  of 
one  hundred  dollars,  a  large  sum  for  benevolence  in 
those  days,  was  remitted  to  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  supported  alike 
by  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches. 

The  construction  of  the  first  "Old  Stone  Church" 
was  attended  by  many  difficulties,  due  chiefly  to  the 
scarcity  of  money.  Donations  were  made  of  stone, 
lumber,  and  other  building  materials;  some  in  store 
pay,  but  not  until  a  loan  had  been  secured  did  the 
work  hasten  to  completion.  In  1832  Samuel  I. 
Hamlen,  the  carpenter-sexton-sermon-reader,  was 
appointed  to  oversee  the  work  at  two  dollars  a  day. 
Dr.  David  Long  was  authorized  to  purchase  supplies, 
while  a  committee  composed  of  P.  M.  Weddell,  T.  P. 
Handy,  and  A.  W.  Walworth  appealed  for  funds. 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  59 

Finally  a  loan  was  secured  from  the  Commercial  Bank 
of  Lake  Erie.  Evidently  Dr.  David  Long,  T.  P. 
Handy,  A.  W.  Walworth,  Samuel  Cowles,  and  John 
Blair  assumed  responsibility  for  the  loan,  for  in  1835 
the  fire  insurance  policy  of  five  thousand  dollars  was 
assigned  to  these  members.  This  debt  was  not  paid 
as  late  as  1841,  when  Orlando  Cutter,  F.  W.  Bingham, 
and  Dr.  David  Long  were  appointed  to  submit  three 
plans  for  payment  of  debt;  permanent  sale  of  the 
slips,  subject  to  an  annual  tax;  the  creation  of  a  stock 
company  with  five  thousand  dollars  capital,  at  six 
per  cent.,  and  the  attempt  to  raise  the  debt  by  sub- 
scription. The  records  do  not  reveal  the  method 
adopted  whereby  the  debt  was  raised,  but  the  men- 
tion of  new  stock  certificates  in  place  of  lost  ones 
intimates  that  stock  was  sold.  The  debt  April  3, 1848, 
or  fourteen  years  after  the  dedication  of  the  church 
edifice,  amounted  to  three  thousand  six  hundred 
dollars,  and  then  arrangements  were  made  for  its 
payment. 

The  dedicatory  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  Rev- 
erend John  Keep  on  February  26,  1834.  The  text 
was  Psalm  5  :  7. 

But  as  for  me,  I  will  come  into  thy  house  in  the  multi- 
tude of  thy  mercy;  and  in  thy  fear  will  I  worship  toward 
thy  holy  temple. 

The  building  site,  which  cost  four  hundred  dollars, 
is  the  one  still  occupied  on  the  north  side  of  the  Public 
Square,  at  the  intersection  of  Ontario  Street.  It  was 
purchased  by  ten  citizens,  namely  Samuel  William- 
son, Samuel  Cowles,  John  M.  Sterling,  Leonard  Case 


60  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Harmon  Kingsbury,  Nathan  Perry,  Peter  M.  Wed- 
dell,  Samuel  Starkweather,  Ashbel  W.  Walworth,  and 
Edmund  Clark.  This  remarkable  list  contains  three 
names  not  included  among  the  incorporators,  John 
M.  Sterling,  Leonard  Case,  and  Harmon  Kingsbury. 
John  M.  Sterling  came  from  Connecticut  and  became 
one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  Cleveland.  He  was  the 
father  of  Dr.  Elisha  Sterling,  who  practiced  medicine 
and  surgery  many  years  in  the  city  of  his  birth. 
Leonard  Case  was  the  son  of  a  poor  German  couple 
living  in  Pennsylvania.  They  moved  in  1800  to 
Warren,  Ohio,  where  Leonard  at  fourteen  years  of  age 
was  stricken  with  infantile  paralysis  which  seriously 
crippled  him.  He  secured  a  position  in  the  recorder's 
office  at  Warren,  and  became  very  familiar  with  the 
records  of  the  Connecticut  Land  Company.  He  then 
became  cashier  of  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Lake 
Erie  in  Cleveland,  studied  law  and  dealt  in  real 
estate  the  rest  of  his  life.  His  home  was  at  first  a 
small  frame  house,  standing  upon  the  present  site 
of  the  post  office.  His  children,  William  and  Leonard 
Case,  Jr.,  became  very  prominent  and  influential  men 
in  the  community. 

Harmon  Kingsbury,  one  of  the  donors  of  the  church 
site,  served  as  a  trustee  of  Western  Reserve  College 
from  1824  to  1844,  and  was  described  as  a  resident  of 
Lorain  County,  but  in  the  later  forties  Cleveland 
directories  gave  him  as  a  resident  living  on  Prospect 
Street,  and  his  occupation  that  of  a  farmer. 

The  site  upon  which  the  Stone  Church  stands  was 
sold  by  Joel  Scranton  to  Samuel  Cowles,  provided 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  61 

that  within  three  years  the  latter  sold  the  property 
to  the  First  Presbyterian  Society  at  the  price  of  four 
hundred  dollars,  for  the  purpose  of  the  erection  of  a 
meeting-house  thereon.  The  four  hundred  dollars  was 
contributed  as  follows:  Samuel  Williamson,  Samuel 
Cowles,  Leonard  Case,  Peter  M.  Weddell,  Nathan 
Perry,  and  Harmon  Kingsbury  each  gave  fifty  dollars; 
while  twenty-five  dollars  each  was  contributed  by 
John  M.  Sterling,  Samuel  Starkweather,  A.  W.  Wal- 
worth, and  Edmund  Clark.  No  deed  was  ever  found 
conveying  this  property  from  Samuel  Cowles  to  the 
Stone  Church.  So  great  was  the  confidence  placed 
in  this  early  judge,  the  first  president  of  the  Church 
Society,  that  the  land  stood  in  his  name  for  many 
years  after  his  death.  Not  long  before  he  died  Judge 
Samuel  E.  Williamson  gave  his  opinion  that  the  pres- 
ent owners  have  a  clear  title  to  it.  Written  releases 
had  been  obtained  from  all  the  heirs  of  the  ten 
donors,  with  the  exception  of  two  whose  heirs  could 
not  be  found. 

For  primitive  times  the  edifice  dedicated  was  con- 
sidered fine,  substantially  constructed  of  gray  sand- 
stone, rough  hammered.  It  was  fifty-five  by  eighty 
feet,  finished  in  the  Tuscan  order  of  architecture,  with 
bell  section  and  dome.  The  front  was  divided  with 
pilasters  composed  of  cut  stone,  with  a  flight  of  spa- 
cious steps  leading  to  the  main  entrance.  The 
entablature  was  plain,  yet  tasteful  and  commanding. 
The  interior  was  finished  on  the  first  floor  with 
eighty-four  pews,  and  a  full  gallery  suspended  from 
the  ceiling  by  iron  rods.    The  ceiling  was  elliptical 


62  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

and  the  finish  plain.  The  total  cost  of  the  edifice  was 
nine  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  In  the  afternoon 
of  the  day  of  dedication  the  ''slips"  were  rented  for 
one  year,  assuring  an  income  of  two  thousand  dollars, 
out  of  which  the  incidental  expenses  and  salary  of 
the  pastor  were  to  be  paid  first,  and  then  the  surplus 
applied  to  the  payment  of  the  debt. 

Until  the  dedication  of  this  first  edifice  the  service 
of  song  had  been  confined  mainly  to  the  use  of  Watts' 
hymns.  In  1827  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Benjamin  Rouse  came 
to  Cleveland  from  New  York  City.  They  were  Bap- 
tists, but  as  agent  of  the  American  Sunday  School 
Union,  Mr.  Rouse  at  first  became  a  strong  supporter 
of  the  work  in  the  Stone  Church.  Later  he  organized 
Trinity  Sunday  School  in  1830,  and  the  First  Bap- 
tist and  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Sunday  Schools 
in  1833.  He  was  a  fine  singer,  and  brought  to  the 
religious  life  of  Cleveland  a  needed  inspiration  in  all 
musical  services. 

This  Sunday  School  missionary  of  musical  ability 
became  in  course  of  time  Deacon  Rouse  of  the  First 
Baptist  Church,  a  citizen  of  considerable  influence 
in  the  growing  community.  The  story  has  been  told 
that  this  good  deacon  began  to  construct  in  1858  a 
family  vault  in  Erie  Street  Cemetery.  The  work  did 
not  progress  as  he  desired  to  see  it  advance,  and  not 
feeling  well  he  exclaimed  one  day  to  the  workmen, 
"I  shall  be  dead  before  this  vault  is  done."  He  then 
began  to  visit  the  cemetery  every  working  day  and 
was  finally  tempted  to  join  the  workmen  in  labor. 
The   exercise   gained   through   the   daily  walk  and 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  63 

manual  toil  brought  immediate  improvement  in 
health,  and  in  his  case  thirteen  years  passed  before 
the  vault  was  needed. 

Not  only  the  coming  to  Cleveland  of  Deacon 
Benjamin  Rouse,  but  also  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Truman 
P.  Handy  in  vigorous  manhood,  gave  fresh  impetus 
to  the  musical  part  of  public  worship.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
T.  P.  Handy  became  great  favorites  in  musical 
circles  within  and  without  the  church.  Anthems 
having  been  introduced  into  church  worship,  at  the 
time  of  the  dedication  of  the  first  Stone  Church  edifice, 
one  was  rendered  with  special  effect.  With  Mr.  Tuttle 
as  choir  master,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  P.  Handy  and  a 
full  choir  of  voices  occupied  the  singers'  seats,  while 
Mrs.  Tuttle  sat  in  the  audience  a  couple  of  pews  from 
the  pulpit.  The  audience  had  been  accustomed  to 
face  the  gallery  during  the  singing.  From  the  choir 
there  came  the  anthem,  "Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye 
gates,  and  be  ye  lifted  up  ye  everlasting  doors,  and 
the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in."  In  response  to  this 
volume  of  music  from  the  gallery  there  arose  a  sweet 
voice  from  the  front  of  the  audience,  "Who  is  this 
King  of  Glory.'"'  and  the  choir  made  answer,  "The 
Lord,  strong  and  mighty,  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle." 

Thus  the  transition  from  the  more  simple  praise 
of  Watts'  hymns  was  safely  made  in  the  Stone 
Church  at  the  dedication  of  its  first  home.  The 
minister  and  official  boards  wisely  followed  the 
natural  vantage  of  the  dedicatory  occasion  with  a 
series  of  protracted  meetings.  These  special  services 
continued  nineteen  days  and  were  well  attended,  and 


64  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

as  a  result  the  membership  was  greatly  strengthened. 
Among  those  who  united  with  the  church  at  the  time 
of  this  marked  influx  was  Mr.  John  A.  Foot,  a  mem- 
ber of  a  distinguished  Connecticut  family,  his  father 
having  been  governor  and  United  States  senator. 
The  famous  Admiral  Foot  of  Civil  War  times  was  a 
brother.  Having  graduated  from  Yale  College,  Mr. 
John  A.  Foot  practiced  law  seven  years  before  coming 
to  Cleveland  in  1833.  He  formed  at  once  a  partner- 
ship with  Judge  Sherlock  J.  Andrews.  His  life  was 
characterized  by  a  wonderful  fidelity  to  every  interest 
of  the  Stone  Church,  in  which  he  served  as  ruling 
elder  forty-six  years,  a  term  extending  through  the 
pastorates  of  Drs.  Aiken  and  Goodrich,  and  through 
a  goodly  portion  of  Dr.  Haydn's  service,  including 
the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell.  He  died 
June  16,  1891.  His  sainted  wife,  formerly  Mrs.  A.  D. 
Cutter  who  died  a  year  later,  was  also  a  remarkable 
worker  in  the  church. 

Prominent  among  the  earliest  families  were  those  of 
Orlando  and  Abilene  Cutter,  brothers  who  came  to 
the  Reserve  as  early  as  1818.  They  were  merchants 
of  prominence.  The  second  wife  of  Orlando  Cutter 
was  the  daughter  of  Richard  Hilliard,  the  pioneer 
merchant;  while  the  widow  of  Abilene  Cutter  became 
in  later  life  Mrs.  John  A.  Foot.  Members  of  the 
Cutter  families  were  for  many  years  prominent 
workers  in  various  Cleveland  Presbyterian  churches. 

It  was  at  this  period  of  early  church  building  and 
of  preparation  for  the  calling  of  the  first  installed 
pastor,  that  Judge  Sherlock  J.  Andrews  commenced 


Thh  Oric.ixal  Old  Stoxe  Church 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  67 

his  long  helpful  connection  with  the  Stone  Church. 
He  had  come  from  Wallington,  Conn.,  in  1825,  and 
although  only  twenty-five  years  of  age  he  had  grad- 
uated from  Union  College  and  had  completed  his 
legal  studies.  He  maintained  a  pew  in  Trinity  as  well 
as  in  the  Stone  Church,  having  been  reared  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  faith,  but  his  greater  religious 
activity  was  in  the  Stone  Church,  of  which  Mrs.  An- 
drews was  a  devoted  member.  They  first  resided  on 
Water  Street  near  the  old  lighthouse,  and  then  they 
moved  two  doors  west  of  the  Stone  Church  on  the 
Public  Square.  As  a  member  of  the  bar,  a  congress- 
man and  a  judge  on  the  bench  he  attained  a  high 
reputation;  while  his  influence  in  the  Stone  Church 
continued  to  the  close  of  life.  He  served  a  number  of 
years  as  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  was 
a  warm  supporter  of  Drs.  Aiken, Goodrich  and  Haydn. 
His  daughter  Ursula  Andrews  married  Mr.  Gamaliel 
E.  Herrick,  who  for  many  years  was  also  a  worthy 
oflicial  of  the  Stone  Church.  Mrs.  Elisha  Whittlesey 
of  New  York  City  is  the  only  surviving  child  of  Judge 
Andrews,  but  two  grandchildren,  Mr.  Frank  R.  Her- 
rick and  Miss  Ursula  Herrick,  are  now  members  of 
the  Stone  Church,  while  the  late  Mrs.  Andrew  B. 
Meldrum  was  also  a  granddaughter. 

It  may  be  instructive,  as  well  as  interesting,  to  see 
the  Village  of  Cleveland,  at  the  time  of  the  erection 
of  the  primitive  edifice  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  the  incipient  city  was  viewed  by  a  North 
Ireland  emigrant  who  came  to  the  Western  Reserve 
about  1832.  He  resided  in  Cleveland  until  after  1834, 


68  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

and  then  removed  to  Newburgh,  where  for  many 
years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Miles  Park  Presby- 
terian Church.  The  greater  part  of  his  farm  is  now 
occupied  by  Harvard  Grove  Cemetery. 

This  Mr.  Isaac  Reid  left  a  ledger  in  which  not  only 
various  financial  accounts  are  to  be  found,  but  also 
copies  of  letters  which  he  sent  to  friends  in  Ireland. 
A  few  extracts  are  given: 

We  are  now  on  the  high  and  sandy  banks  of  Lake  Erie. 
Fifteen  years  ago  this  village  had  a  few  shanties,  and 
not  far  away  were  Indians.  Land  prices  around  the 
border  of  this  town  are  so  high  as  to  sell  at  320  per 
acre,  and  within  four  miles  of  the  village  you  pay  from  38  to 
316  per  acre,  according  to  improvements.  Beef  is  three 
and  four  cents  a  pound;  potatoes  two  shillings  a  bushel; 
butter  one  shilling;  tea  and  coffee  the  same  as  at  home. 
We  have  rented  a  house  and  a  good  sized  lot  [River 
Street]  for  365  a  year.  This  is  a  fine  place  for  young 
men  and  women.  Young  men  get  from  310  to  315  a 
month  and  board.  Young  women  from  34  to  36  a 
month  and  they  live  better  than  the  best  farmers' 
daughters  in  Claughen.  They  are  not  treated  like 
servants  here.  This  is  a  country  far  preferable  to 
Ireland.  I  went  to  work  for  Mr.  Andrews  at  320  per 
month  in  his  engine-shop.  He  is  a  fine  man,  a  deacon 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  South  of  here  lies  the 
canal,  three  hundred  miles  to  Portsmouth.  There  is 
great  business  on  this  canal,  the  boats  passing  and  re- 
passing like  the  stages  with  you  on  the  Dublin  Road. 
A  multitude  of  schooners  come  in  every  day,  and  from 
here  the  goods  go  to  the  Ohio  River,  a  great  place  of 
business,  and  beautiful  I  am  told.  There  are  upwards 
of  three  hundred  steamboats  on  this  river,  and  they 
trade  from  Pittsburgh  to  New  Orleans,  and  from  there 
to  all  places  of  the  world.     There  are  twelve  steamboats 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  69 

on  Lake  Erie,  and  we  have  from  two  to  four  a  day. 
The  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Methodists  and  The  Church 
[Episcopal]  are  here,  and  every  one  has  its  own  bell. 
There  is  also  a  Bethel  Church.  This  last  summer  the 
Presbyterians  built  a  new  church  and  it  is  twelve  days 
since  the  first  sermon  was  preached  in  it,  and  during 
that  time  there  have  been  twenty-four  sermons,  besides 
two  to  three  prayer-meetings  and  lectures  every  day. 
It  is  not  for  money  the  preachers  preach  here.  All  they 
want  is  a  living.  I  have  attended  these  meetings,  as 
often  as  convenient,  and  during  that  time  there  has  been 
more  good  done  the  sinner  than  I  ever  saw  in  all  my  life. 
There  is  a  sect  of  people  here  called  Baptists.  They  go 
into  the  water  and  a  few  days  ago  they  baptized  four 
and  there  was  a  great  crowd  of  spectators.  December 
8th  they  baptized  four  men  and  two  women.  After  the 
sermon  the  minister  and  the  whole  congregation  went 
down  to  the  lake.  The  minister  went  four  feet  into  the 
water  and  dipped  them  right  under.  This  we  think 
strange  to  see.     This  country  differs  far  from  home. 

The  statement  made  by  Isaac  Reid,  in  enumerating 
the  early  churches  of  Cleveland,  that  each  had  its 
own  bell,  suggests  a  peculiar  task  imposed  by  law 
upon  the  sextons  of  those  times.  The  village  ordi- 
nance ran: 

The  sextons  of  the  several  churches  which  are  now,  or 
may  hereafter  be  furnished  with  bells,  shall,  immediately 
on  the  alarm  of  fire,  repair  to  their  several  churches  with 
which  they  are  connected,  and  diligently  ring  the  bells 
of  said  churches,  during  twenty  minutes,  and  in  such 
manner  as  directed  by  the  chief  engineer,  unless  the 
fire  be  sooner  extinguished,  with  penalty  of  32  for  every 
omission. 

In  case  of  a  prolonged  conflagration  there  must  have 
been  strong  temptation  on  the  part  of  sextons  to 


70  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

choose  the  fines,  in  preference  to  the  physical  exer- 
cise, but  in  all  probability  the  village  youth  flocked 
to  the  churches  to  take  turns  at  the  bell-ropes. 

During  the  year  of  dedication  of  its  first  church 
home,  the  Stone  Church  congregation  was  challenged 
to  adopt  a  permanent  attitude,  not  only  toward  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  but  also 
against  the  use  of  "ardent  spirits,"  as  a  beverage. 
The  challenge  came  in  a  manner  thus  described: 

E.  F.  G.  appeared  before  the  executive  committee  and 
gave  his  reasons  for  vending  ardent  spirits,  having  pre- 
sented a  letter  for  admission  to  the  church.  Question, 
Shall  a  person  who  vends  ardent  spirits  be  received  as  a 
member  of  this  church?  Unanimously  the  opinion  of  the 
committee  was  that  E.  F.  G.  should  not  be  received  as  a 
member,  as  long  as  he  vends  ardent  spirits. 

The  executive  committee's  action  reported  to  the 
congregation  received  this  ratification: 

Resolved,  that  in  the  opinion  of  this  church,  with  the 
light  now  shed  upon  the  subject,  the  use  of  ardent  spirits 
as  a  drink,  or  the  making  and  trafficking  in  the  article, 
except  as  a  medicine,  is  an  immorality.  Resolved,  that 
henceforth  candidates  for  membership  in  this  church 
and  persons  received  by  letter  from  other  churches  be 
required,  as  a  condition  for  reception,  to  abstain  them- 
selves from  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  as  a  drink;  not  to 
furnish  it  to  those  in  their  employment,  nor  to  vend  or 
make  the  article,  nor  in  any  way,  except  as  a  medicine, 
or  for  chemical  purposes  to  encourage  the  use  of  it. 

Such  a  position,  taken  eighty-six  years  ago,  did  not 
leave  the  outside  world  in  doubt  regarding  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Stone  Church  in  reference  to  the  manu- 
facture, sale,  or  use  of  ardent  spirits. 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  71 

Seldom  do  the  official  minutes  of  a  church  record 
weddings,  but  one  held  in  the  Stone  Church  Sunday 
evening,  November  2,  1834,  was  of  such  importance 
that  the  secretary  of  the  society  made  this  minute: 

N.B.  Sarah  Van  Tine  a  member  of  this  Church  was 
married  in  the  Church  on  Sabbath  evening  November  2, 
1834,  to  Dr.  Newton  Adams,  preparatory  to  their  going 
on  a  Mission  to  the  Zoolahs  of  South  Africa.  The  outfit 
contributed  by  the  Church  and  Congregation  amounted 
in  Value  to  upwards  of  Four  Hundred  Dollars. 

Miss  Sarah  Van  Tyne  (also  spelled  Van  Tine)  was 
born  April  2,  1800,  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.  At  fourteen 
years  of  age  her  mother's  death  placed  the  care  of  her 
father's  family  upon  her.  After  having  taught  in 
Auburn  and  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  she  came  in  1831  to 
reside  with  a  brother  in  Cleveland.  Asiatic  cholera 
raged  at  the  time,  and  this  young  lady  was  among 
the  few  who  nursed  victims  fearlessly.  The  Bethel 
Sunday  School  enlisted  her  interest,  and  there  she 
became  the  teacher  of  poor  children,  as  no  public 
school  for  their  educaton  existed.  The  work  became, 
however,  the  first  school  to  be  supported  by  public 
funds. 

Dr.  Newton  Adams  came  to  Cleveland  in  1834  to 
study  medicine,  preparatory  to  his  going  as  a  medical 
missionary  to  the  Zulu  tribes  of  South  Africa.  Having 
become  prominent  in  the  Young  Ladies'  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Stone  Church,  Miss  Van  Tyne  came 
into  intimate  association  with  Mrs.  Samuel  Hutch- 
ings,  who,  with  her  husband  was  anticipating  mission- 
ary service  in  Ceylon.    After  Dr.  Adams  left  Cleve- 


72  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

land  and  had  received  his  appointment  under  the 
American  Board,  he  proposed  to  Miss  Van  Tyne  that 
she  join  him  as  his  wife  in  the  foreign  work.  The 
Reverend  John  Keep,  concluding  that  the  wedding 
might  increase  popular  interest  in  foreign  missions, 
announced  the  Sunday  evening  event  which  was 
largely  attended. 

The  Zulus  were  a  superior  class  among  the  African 
tribes,  and  the  young  missionaries  had  become  in- 
terested in  Africa  by  reason  of  the  growing  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  in  this  country.  Dr.  Adams,  physi- 
cally the  stronger  of  the  two  workers,  died  in  1851 
after  seventeen  years  of  service;  whereas  the  wife 
labored  three  years  longer,  when  ill  health  forced  a 
return  to  this  country.  The  closing  years  of  her  con- 
secrated life  were  spent  in  four  different  Cleveland 
families,  in  each  of  which  she  proved  a  blessing.  At 
seventy  years  of  age  she  passed  away,  November  1, 
1870,  in  the  home  of  her  friend  of  many  years,  the 
late  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Severance. 

This  missionary  left  a  legacy  of  one  thousand 
dollars,  the  first  gift  toward  the  founding  of  the 
Woodland  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which 
there  is  a  memorial  window,  the  gift  of  the  "Sarah 
Adams  Band."  She  was  buried  in  Woodland  Ceme- 
tery. 

In  more  recent  years  one  of  the  missionary  homes 
at  Wooster,  Ohio,  the  gift  of  the  late  Elder  Louis  H. 
Severance,  was  named  in  honor  of  this  friend  of  his 
mother. 

During  the  ministrations  of  the  Reverend  John 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  73 

Keep  the  first  colony  departed  to  help  form  another 
church.  Nineteen  members  were  granted  letters 
December  17,  1834,  to  the  "Brooklyn  Church,"  not 
the  Archwood  Congregational  Church,  originally 
known  as  the  Brooklyn  Church,  but  a  new  religious 
enterprise  across  the  Cuyahoga  River  on  Detroit 
Street.  It  became  popularly  known  as  the  "Village 
Church,"  in  Ohio  City,  and  was  the  beginning  of 
the  present  First  Congregational  Church  of  Cleve- 
land. 

After  his  service  in  the  Stone  Church,  the  Rev- 
erend John  Keep  became  pastor  of  this  village  church 
west  of  the  river.  During  his  leadership  in  the  Stone 
Church  one  hundred  twenty-one  members  were 
added,  increasing  the  roll  to  two  hundred  fifteen  per- 
sons. During  the  year  thirty-seven  had  been  dis- 
missed; one  had  died  and  one  had  been  excommuni- 
cated, leaving  a  total  membership  of  one  hundred 
seventy-six,  with  an  average  attendance  of  four  hun- 
dred upon  divine  worship. 

The  last  of  the  "six  stated  supplies,"  who  prepared 
the  way  in  the  Stone  Church  for  the  calling  of 
the  first  installed  pastor,  was  no  ordinary  home 
missionary.  The  Reverend  John  Keep  was  the 
seventh  child  of  a  farmer  in  Longmeadow,  Mass., 
where  he  was  born  April  20,  1781.  After  graduation 
from  Yale  College  he  taught,  and  then  studied  the- 
ology with  the  Reverend  Azel  Backus  and  the  Rev- 
erend Asahel  Hooker.  Before  ordination  he  had  been 
invited  to  Blandford,  Mass.,  where  a  church  was 
divided  into  warring  factions.  There  he  was  ordained 


74  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

and  installed  in  a  pastorate  which  continued  sixteen 
years.  In  May,  1821,  two  calls  were  considered,  one 
to  the  Congregational  Church  at  Homer,  N.  Y.;  the 
other  to  Brunswick,  Maine,  where  the  congregation 
included  the  faculty  and  students  of  Bowdoin  College, 
and  where  he  would  have  had  to  teach  moral  philos- 
ophy. The  call  to  Homer,  N.  Y.,  to  a  church  of  four 
hundred  members,  was  accepted.  Dissatisfaction 
finally  arose  over  a  case  of  discipline,  and  in  1833  the 
pastor's  sympathy  with  the  "new  measures"  adopted 
by  revivalists  added  more  oil  to  the  flames.  He  was 
a  trustee  of  Hamilton  College  from  1827  to  1834, 
and  of  Auburn  Seminary  from  1832  to  1834.  Although 
during  his  Homer,  N.  Y.,  pastorate  five  hundred 
forty-two  members  had  been  received,  he  accepted 
the  call  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleve- 
land. One  of  the  earlier  stated  supplies  of  the  Stone 
Church,  the  Reverend  Stephen  I.  Bradstreet,  had 
taken  an  important  part  in  the  founding  of  Western 
Reserve  College  at  Hudson,  Ohio. 

The  Reverend  John  Keep,  a  later  supply,  became 
prominent  in  the  establishment  of  Oberlin  College. 
Elected  a  trustee  of  that  institution  in  1834,  he  was 
also  president  of  the  board  of  trustees.  Although  but 
fifty-three  years  of  age,  he  began  to  be  called  "Father 
Keep,"  by  which  title  he  was  endeared  to  Oberlin. 
Having  long  been  opposed  to  slavery  his  vote  was 
the  one  that  decided  the  admission  of  colored  stu- 
dents to  the  college  classes. 

With  the  abolition  of  slavery  the  formal  admission 
of  negroes  to  classes  at  Oberlin  brought  considerable 


THE  DAY  OF  SMALL  THINGS  75 

fame  to  the  college,  but  without  such  a  formal  vote 
of  admission,  many  northern  colleges  were  at  the 
time  educating  negroes.  One  had  graduated  in  the 
first  class  at  Western  Reserve  College,  while  others 
were  in  the  preparatory  department.  A  negro  had 
graduated  in  the  first  class  at  Lane  Theological  Semi- 
nary, from  which  there  was  a  sensational  exodus  of 
students  to  Oberlin;  still  the  admission  by  a  majority 
of  one  gained  the  greater  renown. 

In  1836  the  financial  agency  of  the  college  was 
accepted  by  Father  Keep,  but  that  work  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  panic  of  1837,  and  for  two  years  the 
supply  of  churches  was  resumed.  In  company  with 
another  Oberlin  official  he  went  in  1839  to  England 
to  secure  funds,  and  after  eighteen  months  abroad 
they  brought  back  ^30,000,  which  saved  Oberlin 
College  from  impending  bankruptcy.  Preaching  in 
Ohio  and  New  York  State  was  then  resumed  for  a 
decade,  when  in  1850  Oberlin  became  his  permanent 
home. 

Again  acting  as  financial  agent  of  the  college,  ninety 
thousand  dollars  was  raised  by  the  sale  of  scholar- 
ships, a  financial  assistance  in  its  time  of  immense 
importance.  He  published  many  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses, and  after  a  lifetime  of  uninterrupted  good 
health  he  died  of  "old  age"  February  11,  1870,  in 
his  eighty-ninth  year. 

May  this  resume  of  the  first  fifteen  years  of  the 
history  of  the  Stone  Church  enhance  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  present  generation  the  value  of  the  con- 
secrated  labors   of  the   "six   stated   supplies"   who 


76  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

wrought  in  the  day  of  small  things.  The  basic  work 
of  the  ministers  who  supplied  from  1820  to  1835,  like 
the  foundation  of  an  imposing  edifice,  has  been  in 
danger  of  remaining  buried  out  of  sight,  but  the 
toils  of  those  first  fifteen  years  by  no  means  consti- 
tuted the  least  important  period  in  the  one  hundred 
years'  existence  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Cleveland. 


III.  CHURCH  DISCIPLINE 

Has  the  exercise  of  church  discipline  become  a  lost 
art,  and  have  all  lines  of  demarcation  between  the 
Christian  and  the  worldling  disappeared?  Often  are 
these  queries  raised  by  those  who  complain  that  there 
is  no  longer  any  difference  between  members  of  the 
Christian  Church  and  those  without  her  pale. 

Judicial  process  against  those  suspected  of  having 
dishonored  their  religious  profession  was  certainly 
not  a  lost  art  in  the  greater  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  many  were  the  social  practices,  now 
commonly  tolerated,  which  were  then  considered  in- 
fallible proofs  of  a  return  to  the  "beggarly  elements 
of  the  world."  The  mastery  of  ecclesiastical  law 
governing  the  trials  of  recreant  believers  became 
almost  a  profession,  and  denominational  organiza- 
tions contained  ministers,  elders  and  deacons,  pecu- 
liarly adept  either  as  prosecutors  of  the  accused,  or  as 
counsels  for  their  defence. 

At  stated  meetings  of  a  Presbytery  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  "Judicial  Committee"  is  still  customary, 
but  frequently  years  pass  without  the  presentation 
of  any  business  for  this  committee's  action.  Such 
terms  as  "citations,"  "pleas,"  "witnesses,"  "hearing 
of  parties,"  "deliberation  and  judgment,"  "sen- 
tence," "appeal,"  and  "transmission  of  records"  form 
an    unknown    tongue    in    present  day  ecclesiastical 


78  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

gatherings.  In  the  older  sessional  records,  however, 
hundreds  of  pages  were  devoted  to  the  permanent 
recording  of  minute  testimony,  given  at  the  trials  of 
those  accused  of  having  dishonored  their  Christian 
profession. 

The  Scriptural  basis  of  the  earlier  practice  of  disci- 
pline was  found  in  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  St. 
Matthew's  gospel. 

Moreover  if  thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,  go 
and  tell  him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone;  if  he 
shall  hear  thee  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother,  but  if  he 
will  not  hear  thee,  then  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more, 
that  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every  word 
may  be  established,  and  if  he  shall  neglect  to  hear  thee, 
tell  it  unto  the  church;  but  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the  church, 
let  him  be  unto  thee  as  a  heathen  and  a  publican. 

This  injunction  became  of  weighty  importance  in 
the  estimation  of  the  early  churches  of  the  Western 
Reserve.  The  true  end  of  discipline  should  ever  be 
remedial,  as  well  as  vindicatory,  and  there  was  in  the 
pioneer  churches  the  warning  that  it  ought  ever  to 
be  exercised  with  discretion.  The  practice,  however, 
tended  to  an  extreme  which  often  divided  congrega- 
tions, disrupted  pastorates  and  engendered  bitter 
feelings  between  those  always  ready  to  array  them- 
selves either  upon  one  side  or  the  other  of  a  con- 
troversy. 

The  evil  results  of  disciplinary  efforts  often  con- 
tinued for  years  before  they  were  completely  eradi- 
cated. Thus  in  the  instance  of  as  successful  a  minister 
as  the  Reverend  John  Keep,  it  was  recorded  that  at 
Homer,  N.  Y.,  "dissatisfaction  began  to  arise  in  the 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  79 

church  in  1828  in  consequence  of  a  case  of  discipHne." 
This  does  not  imply  that  he  had  been  needlessly  in- 
discreet in  administrative  matters,  but  it  does  signify 
that  whatever  the  case  may  have  been  the  pressing 
of  it  brought  a  division  in  the  congregation. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleveland  took 
congregational  action  May  24,  1823,  regarding  the 
employment  of  church  discipline.  The  following  was 
adopted    (P.  B.  Andrews  dissenting) : 

Resolved,  that  each  member  of  this  church  be  required, 
and  is  hereby  required,  when  anything  is  seen  or  heard 
of  unseemly  or  improper  conduct  of  any  member,  first 
to  mention  it  to  that  member,  that  the  peace  of  the 
church  be  promoted. 

Almost  every  villager  knew  the  good  and  evil  quali- 
ties of  his  fellow  citizens,  especially  the  general  weak- 
nesses of  human  nature;  consequently  in  the  Cleve- 
land congregation,  as  well  as  in  all  the  Western 
Reserve  churches,  abundant  opportunity  arose  for 
the  exercise  of  religious  discipline. 

In  the  early  minutes  of  Cleveland  Presbytery  an 
appeal  was  taken  by  a  church  member,  suspended  for 
having  sold  milk  on  Sunday.  His  village  had  reached 
that  point  of  development  where  every  family  could 
no  longer  keep  a  cow;  hence  the  increasing  depend- 
ence upon  neighbors  for  a  daily  supply  of  the  lacteal 
necessity.  The  sale  of  milk  on  the  Sabbath,  however, 
gave  offence  to  good  Christians  accustomed  to  a  strict 
observance  of  the  Lord's  day.  Having  been  sus- 
pended by  the  session  of  his  church,  the  aggrieved 
member    appealed    to    Presbytery.     After    having 


80  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

wrestled  for  some  time  with  the  vexed  problem,  the 
higher  ecclesiastical  court  ordered  restoration  of  the 
complainant  to  church  membership,  but  with  the 
sage  admonition"  that  he  sell  as  little  as  possible  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week. 

A  member  of  a  church  near  Akron,  Ohio,  was  disci- 
plined for  having  yielded  to  profanity  at  a  barn- 
raising.  If  the  timber  had  lurched  too  much  toward 
his  post  of  duty  the  sin  may  have  been  largely  of  an 
unconscious,  ejaculatory  nature,  but  the  guilty  mem- 
ber did  not  escape  official  rebuke. 

The  professing  Christian  who  had  apparently  pre- 
sented a  Bible  to  a  young  lady,  and  then  later  having 
asked  her  in  vain  for  payment  had  dunned  her  par- 
ents, ought  to  have  been  condemned  for  the  employ- 
ment of  such  tricks,  in  prosecuting  a  book  agent's 
calling. 

The  church  member  who  admonished  the  patient 
of  Dr.  T.  that  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  employ  a 
rival  physician,  at  the  same  time  guaranteeing  a 
cure,  if  the  advice  were  followed,  was  righteously 
condemned  for  professional  meddling. 

No  members  of  a  village  were  ever  held  to  a  higher 
degree  of  scrupulous  honesty  in  business  transactions 
than  were  the  pioneer  ministers  and  missionaries, 
and  that  when  they  received  "bare-bones"  support. 
Congregations,  then  as  now,  contained  members  like 
the  one  who  prayed,  "O  Lord,  keep  our  minister  very 
humble  in  spirit,  we  can  keep  him  poor."  How  so 
many  well-educated  home  missionaries  with  large 
families   ever   kept   the   wolf  from   the   door,    and 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  81 

escaped  bankruptcy  or  prison  for  debt,  is  a  mystery 
to  the  student  of  pioneer  times.  Woe  to  the  mission- 
ary who  was  tempted  to  "swap"  anything,  especially 
horses.  He  may  have  acted  only  as  laymen  did  in 
such  transactions,  but  the  farmer  who  "swapped" 
horses  with  a  preacher  and  then  concluded  that  he 
had  received  the  worst  of  the  bargain,  was  certain  to 
charge  the  dominie  with  crookedness. 

Members  of  the  Stone  Church  had  no  sooner  deter- 
mined to  exercise  mutual  oversight,  and  if  necessary 
discipline  by  trial,  than  the  clerk  of  the  society  fur- 
nished the  first  case  for  judicial  process.  Having 
scented  impending  charges,  this  official  resigned  be- 
fore they  could  be  preferred.  The  allegations  were 
that 

In  the  store  of  Weddell  and  Clark  he  had  publicly  used 
harsh  expressions  toward  Abraham  Hickcox;  that  fur- 
thermore he  had  taken  Abraham  by  the  collar  of  his 
coat,  apparently  with  the  determination  to  fight,  when 
he  had  been  prevented  by  the  intervention  of  those 
standing  near;  that  such  conduct  was  a  disgrace  to  a 
professor  of  Christianity,  and  injurious  to  the  cause  of 
Christ  in  the  place. 

In  this  first  case  of  discipline  the  accused  failed  to 
appear  before  the  church  tribunal  until  after  the  re- 
ceipt of  a  second  citation,  and  then  he  declined  to 
plead  guilty  on  the  ground  that  he  had  been  actuated 
by  righteous  indignation.  Suspension  came,  however, 
until  the  offensive  conduct  had  been  viewed  in 
another  light. 

When  one  discovers  the  identity  of  "Abraham 
Hickcox"  whose  coat  collar  was  roughly  seized  by 


82  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  clerk  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  Society,  there 
is  wonder  that  the  aggressor  did  not  receive  the 
whipping.  The  shorter  name  of  one  of  Cleveland's 
early  characters  was  **Abram  Hickox,"  the  village 
blacksmith  whose  first  smithy  was  on  Superior  Street, 
west  of  the  site  of  the  Rockefeller  Building.  Later  a 
shop  stood  on  the  south  side  of  Euclid  Avenue  east 
of  the  May  Company's  site,  at  the  corner  of  what 
was  known  as  Hickox  Street,  where  the  Ames  Com- 
pany is  now  located.  A  sign  over  the  door  announced 
*'Uncle  Abram  works  here."  This  was  followed  by 
the  print  of  a  horseshoe,  doubtless  burned  into  the 
wood  for  good  luck.  After  a  protracted  illness  the 
sign  was  changed  to  read :  "Uncle  Abram  still  works 
here."  A  man  of  strong  will,  he  was  generally 
granted  his  own  way.  As  village  sexton  he  conducted 
burials  in  the  first  cemetery  at  the  corner  of  Ontario 
and  Prospect  Streets,  but  his  greatest  pride  centered 
in  his  service  to  Trinity  Church,  of  which  he  had 
become  sexton  from  the  time  of  organization. 

One  Christmas  season  when  the  Presbyterians  used 
the  schoolhouse  Sunday  morning  and  afternoon,  and 
the  Episcopalians  in  the  evening,  this  blacksmith- 
sexton  rather  bruskly  warned  the  Reverend  Stephen 
I.  Bradstreet  not  to  preach  in  the  afternoon  one  of 
his  long-winded  sermons,  as  extra  time  was  needed 
to  decorate  for  the  Episcopal  service  in  the  evening. 
When  in  addition  to  these  facts  relating  to  the  unique 
career  of  Abram  Hickox,  one  recalls  Longfellow's 
"Village  Blacksmith:" 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  83 

The  smith,  a  mighty  man  is  he 
With  large  and  sinewy  hands; 

And  the  muscles  of  his  brawny  arms 
Are  strong  as  iron  bands. 

it  seems  as  though  the  first  clerk  of  the  Presbyterian 
Society  had  manifested  considerable  courage  when 
he  seized  Abram  Hickox  by  the  coat  collar. 

A  more  serious  case  of  discipHne  was  that  of  a 
member  who  had  made  dies  of  silver  half-dollars  for 
Painesville  parties  who  paid  two  hundred  dollars  for 
them.  The  counterfeiters  were  soon  arrested  and  the 
maker  of  the  dies  became  known.  The  civil  authori- 
ties took  no  action  against  him,  but  his  church  did. 
The  wrong-doer  confessed  that  he  had  been  led  by 
fallacious  trains  of  reasoning;  that  in  business  he  had 
never  asked  for  what  purpose  anything  he  made  was 
to  be  used;  that  if  he  did  not  accept  the  job  some  one 
else  would,  and  that  his  family  needed  the  money. 
Having  admitted  his  error  in  every  line  of  reasoning, 
he  was  ordered  to  reduce  his  confession  to  writing 
and  then  read  it  to  the  congregation. 

Commercial  transactions  on  the  Sabbath  became 
frequent  occasions  for  trials.  One  member,  the  pro- 
prietor of  a  store  patronized  by  lake  and  river  boat- 
men, was  accused  of  having  sold  meat  on  Sunday. 
Suspension  followed  until  it  was  reported  that  he 
"had  made  arrangements  whereby  he  would  not  have 
to  break  the  Sabbath  any  longer."  Whether  or  not 
this  implied  that  a  partnership  had  been  effected  the 
records  do  not  make  plain,  but  since  then  many 
stockholders  have  found  refuge  under  a  corporate 


84  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

covering,  from  a  pursuing  sense  of  personal  respon- 
sibility. 

Sunday  travel  became  a  vexing  problem,  as  facilities 
for  journeying  on  land  and  water  increased,  and  a 
serious  offence  in  the  estimation  of  the  churches.  An 
Ohio  clergyman  en  route  to  a  General  Assembly  meet- 
ing remained  in  a  coach  that  ran  Sunday.  Having 
returned  home,  he  received  a  severe  reprimand  for 
having  broken  the  Sabbath,  instead  of  commenda- 
tion for  fidelity  according  to  the  formal  custom  of 
Presbyteries. 

One  of  the  most  unique  cases  of  early  discipline  in 
the  early  days  of  the  Stone  Church  was  that  of  a 
young  servant-girl,  the  specifications  against  whom 
were: 

1st.  She  states  that  the  Hair  Comb  in  her  possession 
and  procured  from  C.  C.  Carlton  &  Co.,  has  not  been 
paid  for,  whereas  Mr.  Carlton  and  his  clerk  say  that  she 
paid  for  the  Comb  the  evening  of  the  day  that  she  took 
it,  thus  uttering  what  is  believed  to  be  a  falsehood. 

2nd.  The  account  she  gives  of  the  purchase  of  a  Cape 
from  Mrs.  Findleson  and  Mrs.  F.'s  own  account  of  it 
leaves  ground  to  believe  that  she  does  not  tell  the  truth 
respecting  the  transaction;  Sarah  says  that  she  gave  a 
dollar  for  it;  Mrs.  F.  saying  that  she  gave  five  dollars, 
and  Sarah  also  declining  to  take  the  Cape  as  her  prop- 
erty, although  Mrs.  F.  cjonsiders  the  Cape  as  Sarah's. 

3rd.  She  has  expended  money  for  articles  of  dress 
over  and  above  what  she  can  account  for,  thereby  leav- 
ing the  suspicion  that  she  has  obtained  sums  of  money 
fraudulently,  having  stated  before  witnesses,  that  the 
whole  amount  of  her  receipts,  since  she  has  been  with  Mrs. 
Whitaker,   is   326.,   whereas   the   articles   which    she   is 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  85 

known  to  have  purchased  exceed  this  sum  by  eight  or 
nine  dollars. 
The  case  was  that  of  a  domestic  living  beyond  her 
known  income.  The  full  explanation  came  when  it 
was  discovered  that,  having  found  a  sum  of  money 
on  River  Street,  the  girl  had  proceeded  to  spend  it, 
without  having  sought  to  find  the  loser. 

Strange  to  relate  the  first  case  of  doctrinal  disci- 
pline was  that  of  a  woman.  In  1835  Alfreda  Clisbe, 
or  Clisby,  whether  Mrs.  or  Miss,  the  record  does  not 
show,  hurled  a  bomb  into  the  camp  of  the  *'Male 
Members"  by  demanding  a  letter  of  dismission  on 
the  ground  that  she  could  "no  longer  walk  with  this 
church."  The  "Male  Members"  rallied  from  the 
shock  of  this  heretical  announcement,  and  proceeded 
at  once  through  a  legally  appointed  committee  to 
demand  from  Alfreda  why  she  could  no  longer  walk 
in  their  company.?  The  committee  of  investigation 
soon  discovered  that  the  lady  offender  had  become 
tainted  with  the  prevailing  "perfectionism"  and 
"unionism."  To  the  investigating  committee  she 
boldly  declared  that 

She  could  and  did  live  without  sin;  that  the  ordinances 
of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  so-called,  and  the 
order  of  ministers  and  churches,  as  they  existed  in  the 
various  denominations,  had  been  done  away;  that  the 
Bible  was  to  be  a  guide  no  farther  than  the  Holy  Spirit 
revealed  and  explained  Its  contents  to  the  individual, 
and  that  which  the  Spirit  taught  was  to  be  followed, 
even  though  it  led  contrary  to  what  was  In  the  Bible. 

When  the  committee  of  the  session  reported  this 
defiant   repudiation  of  orthodox  faith,   the   church 


86  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

fathers  *' Resolved,  that  Alfreda  CHsbe  be  kindly  ad- 
monished of  her  error."  After  the  first  citation  given 
according  to  the  book  of  discipHne  had  been  ignored 
by  the  heretic,  a  second  was  delivered,  "agreeably  to 
the  direction  of  the  gospel."  The  perseverance  of  the 
"Male  Members"  finally  gained  a  signal  victory. 
Alfreda  Clisbe  came  into  their  judicial  presence  with 
the  following  confession : 

Having  been  brought  to  the  discovery  of  the  errors 
which  I  had  acknowledged  as  the  truth  of  God,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  established  doctrine  of  the  different  churches, 
I  have  by  the  Grace  of  God  been  enabled  to  renounce 
and  forsake  them,  therefore  I  feel  in  duty  bound  to  signify 
the  same  to  your  committee,  and  as  I  sincerely  repent 
for  what  I  have  said  against  the  acknowledged  Church 
of  Christ  and  hope  to  be  forgiven,  I  ask  your  pardon 
and  also  beg  an  interest  in  your  prayers,  that  I  may 
henceforth  by  watchfulness  and  prayer  be  able  to  walk 
in  the  straight  and  narrow  path  that  leads  from  Earth 
to  Heaven. 

Then  the  penitent  confessor  added  that 

Wishing  to  belong  to  a  Church  of  Christ,  and  not  feeling 
at  home  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  I  should  feel  very 
thankful  to  you  and  the  committee,  if  you  would  give 
me  a  letter  to  membership  in  the  Methodist  Church, 
as  the  doctrines  and  manner  of  worship  in  that  Church 
are  more  agreeable  to  my  views  of  the  Scripture  than 
any  other. 

Having  rescued  the  misguided  communicant  from  a 
medley  of  theological  heresies,  and  having  restored 
her  to  the  Calvinistic  fold  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
the  brethren  of  that  body  readily  commended  her  to 
the  Armenian  fellowship  of  the  Methodist  Church. 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  87 

Thus  ended  what  may  have  been  the  first  doctrinal 
trial  on  the  Western  Reserve,  and  from  that  time 
until  the  present  the  Presbyterian  churches  of 
northern  Ohio  have  been  singularly  free  from  heresy 
prosecutions. 

The  increasing  tendency  of  church  members  to 
participate  in  "worldly  amusements"  early  challenged 
disciplinary  correction  or  expulsion.  Announcement 
was  made  in  1837  in  a  Cleveland  daily  paper  that 
"The  Theater"  had  opened  with  "new  scenery,  deco- 
rations, and  a  new  and  splendid  drop-curtain,  not 
surpassed  by  any  other  in  the  Union."  Another 
building  for  theatrical  performances  was  under  con- 
struction, three  hundred  feet  long,  seventy  feet  wide, 
and  costing  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  When  com- 
pleted it  "would  rank  with  the  principal  public 
buildings  in  Western  America."  Theaters,  balls,  co- 
tillion parties,  whether  public  or  private,  were  all 
placed  under  ban  by  the  churches.  Participation  in 
such  frivolities  constituted  certain  proof  of  a  "return 
to  the  world,"  and  a  distinct  breach  of  the  church 
covenant.  At  one  meeting  of  the  "executive  com- 
mittee" governing  the  Stone  Church  four  sub- 
committees were  appointed,  each  consisting  of  two 
deacons  or  elders,  to  visit  and  to  remonstrate  with 
members  regarding  their  attendance  upon  "parties 
of  vain  amusements,  dancing,  etc." 

When  the  fact  is  borne  in  mind  that  the  great 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  still  wrestles  with  the 
problem  of  revising  its  book  of  discipline,  in  which 
card-playing,    dancing   and    theater-attendance    are 


88  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

placed  under  ban,  one  can  more  readily  realize  to 
what  extent  the  question  of  popular  amusements  has 
plagued  the  Christian  churches. 

Facilities  for  travel  having  increased,  there  arose 
an  agitation  over  the  propriety  of  owning  stock  in 
transportation  companies  operating  on  Sundays.  The 
session  of  the  Stone  Church  in  1836  took  this  stand: 

Resolved,  that  in  view  of  the  great  increase  of  Railroads, 
Canals  and  other  objects  of  internal  improvements  we 
deem  it  a  duty,  both  as  Citizens  and  Christians,  to  lend 
them  our  means  and  influence,  believing  as  we  do  that 
they  are  sources  of  great  moral  benefit  or  evil  to  our  land; 
and  that  while  we  regard  such  objects  as  worthy  of  our 
attention,  we  deem  it  a  paramount  duty,  recognizing 
the  principles  of  the  Fourth  Commandment  as  obliga- 
tory, to  decline  taking  stocks  in  such  railroads,  canals, 
and  business  associations,  unless  they  respect  the  Sab- 
bath, by  making  it  a  day  of  sacred  rest. 

There  is  no  record  of  disciplinary  measures  ever 
having  been  taken  in  respect  to  this  matter,  but  it  is 
known  that  leading  members  of  the  Stone  Church, 
such  as  the  late  Elder  Reuben  F.  Smith,  for  many 
years  president  of  the  Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh 
Railroad,  did  all  in  their  power,  throughout  their 
official  connection  with  transportation  systems,  to 
lessen  Sunday  labor. 

While  churches  have  discontinued  the  strict  disci- 
pline of  earlier  years,  there  ought  to  be  brotherly 
watch  and  care  exercised  on  the  part  of  officers  and 
members  over  those  in  danger  of  drifting  from 
Christian  fellowship.  The  fathers  were  faithful  in 
seeking  to   restore   to   stated   worship   and   to   the 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  89 

observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper  those  growing  luke- 
warm and  careless.  This  was  especially  necessary 
after  the  large  ingatherings  at  revival  seasons,  which 
on  the  whole  strengthened  the  early  churches,  not- 
withstanding the  many  eccentric  and  superficial 
methods  employed.  It  was  to  have  been  expected 
that  some  fitfully  and  emotionally  moved  would 
lapse  in  the  course  of  time  from  their  confession. 

The  "absentee  roll,"  now  printed  on  the  blanks 
furnished  annually  for  the  compilation  of  church 
statistics,  has  become  the  repository  of  many  abortive 
memberships  that  years  ago  would  have  been  deemed 
worthy  of  disciplinary  trials.  Better  is  it  for  the 
peace  of  the  congregations  and  for  the  wholesome 
results  of  Christian  fellowship,  that  the  rigid  disci- 
pline exercised  by  the  fathers  should  have  given  place 
to  the  ''absentee  roll,"  where  there  is  either  the  per- 
manent decay  of  the  unfaithful  confession  of  Christ, 
or,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  its  ultimate  resurrection 
to  life  again. 

Let  not  the  reader  imagine,  however,  that  the  re- 
ligion of  the  disciplinary  years  was  based  wholly 
upon  negative  precepts  instead  of  upon  positive 
principles.  The  first  Stone  Church  manual,  pub- 
lished in  1842,  contained  the  confession  of  faith  and 
covenant,  both  occupying  only  one-half  the  space 
required  for  the  printing  of  "Hints  relating  to  general 
duties."  These  with  few  exceptions  could  profitably 
be  readopted  today  by  churches.  The  "hints"  re- 
lated not  only  to  Bible  reading,  daily  secret  and 
family  prayer,  church  attendance,  and  general  duties 


90  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

relating  to  public  worship,  but  also  to  duties  such  as 
punctuality  in  all  business  engagements,  temperance 
in  eating  and  drinking,  cleanliness  in  person  and 
dress,  economy  in  living  expenses,  love  for  the  pastor 
and  defence  of  his  reputation,  love  for  the  brethren, 
speaking  ill  of  none,  slowness  in  giving  and  in  taking 
offence,  visitation  of  the  sick  and  poor,  the  religious 
education  of  children,  avoidance  of  tattling  and  the 
spirit  of  bigotry  toward  other  denominations,  espe- 
cially underhanded  proselytism,  the  duty  of  uniting 
with  another  church  when  there  has  been  change  of 
residence,  as  well  as  that  of  uniting  with  the  church 
in  the  community  to  which  a  Christian  may  have 
come.  Such  were  some  of  the  very  positive  obliga- 
tions resting  upon  the  earlier  generation  of  Stone 
Church  members  who  may  at  the  same  time  have 
been  prone  to  an  extreme  in  church  discipline;  still 
modern  churches  have  not  surpassed  pioneer  congre- 
gations in  codifying  positive  rules  for  the  guidance 
of  daily  life  and  conduct. 

In  his  sermon,  "Then  and  now  -  a  Contrast,"  de- 
livered at  the  time  of  the  Seventy-fifth  Anniversary 
Celebration,  Dr.  Haydn  most  cogently  gave  this 
analysis  of  the  early  church  discipline: 

Was  it  worth  while.''  Of  course  it  was.  It  is  always  worth 
while  to  be  true  to  one's  convictions.  In  this  they  are 
to  be  honored.  They  drew  the  line  of  distinction  between 
the  spirit  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  as  represented  by 
the  Church,  and  the  spirit  of  the  world.  They  drew  it 
where  they  thought  it  ought  to  be.  The  modern  church 
draws  it  differently.  We  may  think  that  they  were 
narrow  and  bigoted,  but  they  were  not.     They  simply 


CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  91 

sought  to  be  true  to  their  light  and  to  the  spirit  of  their 
times,  and  it  has  never  been  proven  that  any  of  these 
things  ever  made  Christ's  people  better,  or  saints  more 
heavenly.  But  people  cannot  be  made  pious  by  rules 
and  resolutions  and  discipline.  The  era  of  the  individual 
conscience  is  here,  and  men  must  be  approached  on  the 
side  of  reason  and  conscience.  All  in  all,  without  any 
definition  of  spirituality  in  sight,  I  do  not  believe  the 
church  of  1895  less  spiritual  than  that  of  1820;  and  its 
sympathies  are  far  broader,  religion  is  more  a  life,  and 
having  to  do  with  all  days,  with  business  and  pleasure 
and  all  things  else.  That  was  a  day  of  creed-confession 
at  the  door  of  the  entrance  to  membership  and  com- 
munion. Now  confession  of  faith  in  Christ  and  purpose  to 
live  by  and  for  Him,  opens  all  doors  to  church  privileges, 
and  this  is  well,  for  it  is  apostolic.  I  honor  the  Church 
of  1820,  and  1835  and  1850  for  what  it  was  and  did,  and 
for  the  witness  it  bore,  and  the  many  noble  men  and 
women  in  it,  but  it  was  not  all  wheat.  There  were  tares 
then  as  now.  The  records  make  these  things  manifest. 
Say  not  that  the  former  days  were  better  than  these. 
Honor  all  days  for  the  good  that  is  in  them,  but  take 
care  of  thine  own  and  the  record  thou  thyself  art  making. 


IV.  THE  PLAN  OF  UNION 
1801-1837 

The  history  of  Old  Stone  Church,  and  of  all  the 
Presbyterian  and  Congregational  churches  upon  the 
Western  Reserve,  can  be  understood  only  in  the  light 
of  the  Plan  of  Union,  a  compact  into  which  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and 
the  Congregational  Association  of  Connecticut  entered 
in  1801,  and  under  whose  unique  provisions  the  two 
denominations  continued  to  cooperate  for  thirty-six 
years.  This  novel  type  of  church  polity  was  created 
soon  after  the  coming  to  northern  Ohio  of  the  first 
two  home  missionaries,  the  Reverend  William  Wick 
and  the  Reverend  Joseph  Badger. 

The  former  was  the  first  minister  to  be  installed 
pastor  upon  the  Western  Reserve.  Born  at  South- 
ampton, N.  Y.,  in  1786,  his  parents  first  moved  to 
New  York  City  and  then  to  Pennsylvania,  where  the 
son  graduated  from  Jefi^erson  College.  In  1799  he 
was  licensed  and  delivered  his  first  sermon  at  Youngs- 
town,  Ohio,  where  in  1800  he  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled over  the  Youngstown  and  Hopewell  Churches 
of  the  Hartford  Presbytery. 

The  Reverend  William  Wick  at  first  received  Pres- 
byterian aid,  but  later  accepted  an  appointment 
under  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society,  although 
he  continued  to  serve  the  Presbyterian  Church  at 


94  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Youngstown,  Ohio,  until  March  28,  1815,  when  he 
passed  away  at  the  age  of  forty-eight. 

The  Reverend  Joseph  Badger  graduated  from  Yale 
College  in  1785,  after  three  years'  service  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  He  became  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  at  Blanford,  Mass.,  and  then 
accepted  an  appointment  as  missionary  to  the  West- 
ern Reserve  under  the  Connecticut  Missionary 
Society.  Having  left  his  family  in  the  east  he  traveled 
westward  on  horseback,  by  the  way  of  Pittsburgh, 
and  reached  Youngstown  the  last  Sunday  in  1800. 
There  he  was  heartily  welcomed  by  the  Reverend 
William  Wick,  and  in  the  Youngstown  Presbyterian 
Church  the  Reverend  Joseph  Badger  delivered  his 
first  missionary  sermon.  As  an  itinerant  minister  he 
visited  almost  every  settlement  on  the  Reserve,  in- 
cluding that  of  the  Maumee  Indians,  but  in  1801  he 
organized  at  Austinburgh  the  first  Congregational 
church  established  on  the  Reserve;  The  charter 
members  consisted  of  "ten  males  and  six  females." 

The  Presbyterian  home  missionary  at  Youngstown 
showed  no  inclination  to  contend  with  his  Congrega- 
tional brother  at  Austinburgh,  either  over  questions 
of  doctrine  or  those  of  church  government.  The 
Reverend  Joseph  Badger  sent  for  his  wife  and  six 
children,  the  whole  family  to  subsist  in  the  wilderness 
upon  a  guaranteed  support  of  seven  dollars  per  week. 
A  mistaken  view  of  the  western  missionary's  trials 
prompted  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  in 
1803  to  reduce  his  salary  to  six  dollars  a  week,  thus 
placing   the   western    missionaries    upon    the    same 


THE  PLAN  OF  UNION  95 

basis  of  support  as  that  granted  the  Vermont  workers; 
whereas  conditions  in  northern  Ohio  were  entirely 
different  from  those  in  New  England. 

This  heroic  missionary  at  first  accepted  the  salary 
cut,  determined  to  trust  "Him  who  feeds  the  ravens." 
In  making  a  review  of  a  year's  work  he  wrote  in  his 
famous  diary: 

The  Providence  of  God  has  been  such  as  to  excite  my 
highest  gratitude  for  His  protecting  care  in  my  journey- 
ings,  especially  in  perilous  circumstances,  in  escaping  the 
ravenous  bear  at  night  and  in  crossing  streams  dangerous 
to  pass;  often  drenched  with  showers  of  rain  and  covered 
with  snow.  In  the  language  of  David,  "I  have  laid  me 
down  and  slept;    I  awaked,  for  the  Lord  sustained  me." 

In  1806,  however,  the  Reverend  Joseph  Badger 
resigned  his  appointment  under  the  Connecticut 
Missionary  Society  and  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Presbyterian  Missionary  Society  of  Pittsburgh,  which 
commissioned  him  to  many  years'  service  among  the 
Indians  of  the  Sandusky  region.  During  the  War  of 
1812  he  served  as  a  chaplain  in  the  army,  and  was 
present  at  the  siege  of  Fort  Meigs.  Toward  the  close 
of  his  ministerial  career  he  became  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  at  Augustus,  Ohio,  having 
retained  his  connection  with  the  Massachusetts  Con- 
gregational Association,  but  he  was  first  to  support 
the  Plan  of  Union,  and  worked  the  greater  part  of 
his  honored  career  under  Presbyterian  auspices. 

Later  in  life  he  wrote  regarding  the  leaving  of  the 
employ  of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society: 

The  reasons  given  for  reducing  my  pay  were  the  very 


96  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

reasons  why  they  should  have  adhered  to  the  first  agree- 
ment of  seven  dollars  per  week.  The  Vermont  mission- 
aries were  not  subjected  to  uncommon  hardships;  their 
families  were  at  home.  The  missionary  could  find  com- 
fortable lodging  and  refreshment,  with  passable  roads  in 
every  direction,  but  on  the  Reserve  the  missionary  was 
subjected  to  hardships  to  the  jeopardizing  of  his  life  and 
health,  often  traveling  through  the  woods  from  ten  to 
twenty  miles,  without  any  visible  marks  for  a  guide; 
often  drenched  and  compelled  to  camp  in  the  woods. 
Having  worn  out  the  clothing  brought  from  New  Eng- 
land, we  were  obliged  to  buy  at  the  dearest  rate  anyone 
saw  fit  to  ask;  and  having  no  means  of  making  clothing 
for  ourselves  we  were  reduced  to  suffering.  After  having 
written  repeatedly  to  the  Society  I  concluded  to  tell  my 
reasons  for  not  continuing  longer  under  its  direction. 

The  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  sought  to 
make  partial  amends  two  years  later  by  sending 
two  hundred  eighty-four  dollars  to  the  Reverend 
Joseph  Badger.  In  1844  he  removed  to  Perrysburgh, 
Ohio,  where  he  passed  away  almost  ninety  years  of 
age. 

It  has  often  been  asserted  that  the  Presbyterians 
of  the  Western  Reserve  gained  undue  advantage  over 
their  Congregational  brethren  through  the  Plan  of 
Union,  and  that  the  Christians  who  first  came  to  the 
Western  Reserve  were  almost  wholly  Congrega- 
tionalists;  whereas  the  number  of  those  reared  Pres- 
byterians was  by  no  means  inconsiderable.  The 
earliest  records  of  the  Stone  Church  present  a  mixture 
of  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  practices,  yet  the 
majority  of  the  members  received  by  letter  were  from 
Presbyterian    churches,    while    Presbyterians    from 


THE  PLAN  OF  UNION  97 

North  Ireland,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
New  York  State,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont  were 
numerous. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  furthermore,  that 
Congregationalism  was  peculiarly  indigenous  to  New 
England,  and  that  the  Connecticut  type  was  "Con- 
sociated,"  or  semi-Presbyterial,  rather  than  the  dis- 
tinct Independency  of  Massachusetts  Congrega- 
tionalists.  The  Connecticut  Congregationalists  were 
also  a  doctrinal  body,  holding  Calvinistic  covenants 
and  creeds  which  made  them  more  akin  to  the  Pres- 
byterians of  the  Western  Reserve. 

The  intense  yearning  for  Christian  fellowship 
experienced  by  believers  scattered  throughout  a 
remote  and  wild  region,  and  the  fact  that  the  Presby- 
terian churches  of  southeastern  Ohio  and  western 
Pennsylvania  were  more  contiguous  to  the  early 
settlers  of  the  Western  Reserve  than  were  the  home 
churches  of  New  England,  favored  the  modified 
Presbyterian  polity  of  church  government  embodied 
in  the  Plan  of  Union. 

Then  there  is  an  important  "nick  o'  time"  in  the 
development  of  institutions.  When  the  Reverend 
Joseph  Badger  should  have  had  not  only  better 
financial  support,  but  also  the  companionship  of  other 
New  England  missionaries,  there  was  at  that  critical 
juncture  utter  failure,  on  the  part  of  the  Connecticut 
Missionary  Society,  to  secure  eastern  recruits  for  the 
western  fields. 

From  the  time  of  Badger's  arrival  in  1800  until 
1812  the  Connecticut  Society  sought  in  vain  for  men. 


98  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

as  the  following  letter  from  an  officer  of  the  society 
to  a  resident  of  the  Reserve  shows: 

The  trustees  feel  deeply  for  the  people  of  the  New  Con- 
necticut. They  appointed  a  number  of  missionaries, 
hoping  that  three  or  four  would  go  into  your  country,  but 
none  have  yet  consented,  and  I  cannot  learn  that  they  will. 
The  truth  is  that  our  preaching  people  in  this  region  have 
not  courage  or  zeal  enough  to  lead  them  so  far.  They 
view  it  as  a  great  undertaking,  and  say,  "We  have 
missionary  ground  enough  nearer  home."  Nevertheless 
Christ  will  provide  for  His  flock  in  the  wilderness.  I  have 
much  hope  from  the  plan  which  I  suppose  has  been  pre- 
sented to  your  Presbytery.  Furnish  us  with  suitable 
men,  and  we  will  pay  them  as  we  do  our  missionaries 
from  this  quarter. 

In  such  a  communication  this  official  rose  above  all 
sectarian  prejudice,  but  his  society  was  forced  for  a 
dozen  of  critical  years  to  seek  Presbyterian  workers 
in  the  west,  if  it  spent  missionary  funds  to  found 
churches  on  the  Western  Reserve,  hence  as  one  has 
aptly  put  the  case,  "Congregationalists  ought  not  to 
complain  that  milk  from  their  cows  was  churned  into 
Presbyterian  butter." 

The  exceptional  case  of  the  Reverend  Simeon 
Woodruff,  who  came  to  the  Reserve  in  1812,  illus- 
trates the  early  disinclination  of  New  England  minis- 
ters to  accept  service  so  far  from  home.  Having 
graduated  from  Yale  College  he  attended  Andover 
Seminary,  and  there  became  intimately  associated 
with  Samuel  J.  Mills  and  his  companions,  who  at 
Williams  College  in  1806  had  held  the  famous  Hay- 
stack prayer-meeting,  there  pledging  themselves  to 


THE  PLAN  OF  UNION  99 

foreign  missionary  work,  if  subsequent  leadings  of 
providence  indicated  that  course  of  duty.  Young 
Woodruff  had  anticipated  entering  some  foreign  field, 
but  his  attention  having  been  turned  to  the  pressing 
needs  of  the  Western  Reserve  settlements,  he  accepted 
an  appointment  to  that  section  of  Ohio. 

For  such  a  promising  clergyman  to  go  as  far  west 
as  the  Reserve  was  regarded  in  New  England  as 
great  a  sacrifice  as  the  acceptance  of  a  foreign  field 
would  have  been  viewed.  The  Reverend  Simeon 
Woodruff  proved,  however,  to  be  the  forerunner  of  a 
splendid  band  of  Congregational  ministers  who  left 
New  England  between  1813  and  1830  for  service  on 
the  Reserve.  They  were  graduates  of  Yale,  Hamilton, 
Williams,  Bowdoin,  Dartmouth,  Middlebury,  Am- 
herst, Union,  Brown,  and  other  New  England 
colleges;  while  many  of  them  had  studied  at  An- 
dover,  Princeton,  and  Hartford  Theological  Semi- 
naries. A  few  of  these  home  missionaries  entered 
educational  work,  and  founded  preparatory  acade- 
mies, or  Latin  schools,  long  before  public  high  schools 
were  established. 

The  Plan  of  Union  had  held  the  scattered  Chris- 
tians upon  the  Reserve  in  orderly  communions,  Con- 
gregationalists  and  Presbyterians  alike  making  com- 
promises in  church  government,  and  working  in 
practical  fellowship.  If  at  the  formation  of  a  pioneer 
church  a  majority  of  the  "Male  Members"  were 
Congregationalists,  their  form  of  government  was 
adopted.  To  that  congregation  the  Presbytery  was 
only  a  "Standing  Committee,"  to  which  the  members 


100  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

could  go  for  advice;  whereas  in  questions  of  doctrine 
the  Presbytery  was  a  "Consociation." 

On  the  other  hand  the  Presbytery  had  full  power 
in  questions  of  polity  and  doctrine  over  the  Presby- 
terian churches.  These  sent  elders  to  meetings  of 
Presbytery,  while  to  the  same  body  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  commissioned  deacons.  Under  the  Plan  of 
Union  compact  Congregational  deacons  and  com- 
mitteemen were  admitted  to  a  Presbytery  upon  an 
equality  with  Presbyterian  ruling  elders.  Evidently 
this  unique  arrangement  had  created  a  new  type  of 
church  government  upon  the  Reserve,  and  for  almost 
a  third  of  a  century  it  was  generally  satisfactory  to 
the  ministers  who  had  labored  under  its  provisions. 
Naturally  they  asked  why  the  Western  Reserve 
should  not  enjoy  its  own  ecclesiasticism,  as  well  as 
New  England  with  her  more  distinct  Congrega- 
tionalism, and  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  with 
their  special  order  of  Presbyterianism.?  This  hope  of 
church  unity  through  ecclesiastical  evolution,  how- 
ever, was  doomed,  and  in  1837  the  Plan  of  Union  of 
1801  ceased  to  exist.  "High  Churchism,"  or  the  pride 
in  denominationalism,  revived  in  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  who  had  come  later  to  the  New  Connecti- 
cut, and  in  the  Presbyterians  of  the  eastern  portions 
of  the  country. 

About  1831-1832  the  Congregational  forces  on 
the  Reserve  were  augmented  by  the  arrival  of  eastern 
ministers  and  laymen,  who  had  neither  practical 
knowledge  of  the  Plan  of  Union  nor  any  sympathy 
with  the  same.   They  at  once  became  zealous  to  re- 


THE   PLAN  OF  UNION  101 

produce  the  ecclesiastical  order  of  the  older  states 
from  which  they  had  come.  In  1835  an  attempt  was 
made  to  revive  pure  Congregationahsm  on  the  plea 
that  the  Congregational  churches  "had  expected  to  be 
dismissed  from  the  Plan  of  Union  as  soon  as  they 
were  able  to  go  alone." 

Then  followed  the  "Oberlin  Movement,"  with  its 
more  definite  Congregational  features,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  both  President  Mahan  and  Professor 
Finney  had  been  Presbyterian  ministers.  In  addition 
to  Oberlin  ultra-abolitionism  there  were  precipitated 
doctrinal  disputes  which  did  not  secure  the  sympathy 
of  the  Calvinistic  Congregationalists  on  the  Reserve. 
The  antagonism  between  certain  Congregational 
churches  and  the  Oberlin  party  was  as  strong  as  that 
between  Oberlinism  and  the  Presbyterian  Synod.  It 
is  not  surprising,  then,  to  discover  that  many  Con- 
gregationalists on  the  Reserve  found  less  affinity  with 
the  Oberlin  party  than  they  did  with  the  Plan  of 
Union  Presbyterians,  with  whom  they  had  long  been 
associated  in  practical  work.  The  term  "Orthodox 
Congregationalism"  in  northern  Ohio  did  not  then 
apply  to  any  distinction  from  Unitarianism,  as  was 
true  in  New  England,  but  merely  to  the  difference  on 
the  Reserve  between  Calvinistic  and  semi-Armenian 
types  of  Congregationalism. 

In  addition  to  the  problem  of  slavery,  with  its  dis- 
rupting agitations  in  the  churches,  there  came  the 
Oberlin  "Perfectionism,"  followed  by  "Millerism," 
and  premillennial  extremes  in  general,  all  culminating 
in  the  fixing  of  the  date  of  the  Second  Advent. 


102  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Congregationalism,  highly  indigenous  in  a  homo- 
geneous community,  such  as  New  England  was, 
tended  to  produce  far  different  results  in  the  hetero- 
geneous population  of  the  Western  Reserve,  where 
every  possible  reform  movement  was  welcomed.  The 
Oberlin  movement  paved  the  way  for  many  advanced 
social,  educational,  and  religious  gains,  but  the 
various  upheavals  produced  the  opposite  of  Christian 
unionism  professedly  sought  by  its  leaders. 

What  such  agitations  within  the  churches  of  the 
Reserve  failed  to  effect  in  the  abrogation  of  the  Plan 
of  Union  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  of  1837 
supplied  from  without,  in  bringing  to  an  end  the 
compact  made  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1801. 

The  original  Presbytery  of  Hartford  had  been  sub- 
divided into  the  Grand  River,  Portage,  Hiiron,  and 
Cleveland  Presbyteries,  and  these  constituted  the 
Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve.  As  the  New  England 
Congregationalists  had  been  too  far  removed  to 
appreciate  properly  the  early  conditions  that  sur- 
rounded the  Reverend  Joseph  Badger,  so  the  eastern 
Presbyterians,  whose  commissioners  constituted  a 
majority  of  the  General  Assembly,  failed  to  under- 
stand the  Plan  of  Union  type  of  Presbyterianism  on 
the  Reserve. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1837  held  in  Philadelphia 
had  heard  of  radicalism,  unionism,  Oberlinism,  and 
of  eccentric  evangelism  in  the  west.  Prominent  Con- 
gregational and  Presbyterian  ministers  of  the  Re- 
serve, still  enjoying  the  unique  fellowship  of  the  Plan 
of  Union,  wrote  articles  defending  the  northern  Ohio 


THE  PLAN  OF  UNION  103 

churches,  as  not  having  become  involved  in  the 
extreme  and  disrupting  agitations,  but  such  defence 
produced  Httle  impression  upon  the  Presbyterian 
ecclesiastics  of  1837. 

While  the  "High  Church"  party  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  disliked  the  Plan  of  Union  Presbyteries,  in 
which  Congregational  deacons  served  on  an  equal 
basis  with  Presbyterian  elders,  the  main  fear  of  the 
Presbyterian  hierarchy  in  1837  was  due  to  its  dislike 
of  all  cooperative  benevolent  institutions,  such  as 
the  home  missionary  societies. 

There  was  also  the  suspicion  that  the  extreme 
democratic  tendencies  of  Congregationalism  had  been 
introduced  into  the  Western  Reserve  Synod.  The 
ruthless  excision  of  that  Synod  from  the  Presbyterian 
fold,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1837,  and  the  grow- 
ing demand  for  the  establishment  of  strict  Congrega- 
tionalism on  the  Reserve,  together  annulled  the  Plan 
of  Union  compact. 

The  exscinded  Synod  of  the  Western  Reserve  did 
not,  however,  turn  to  Congregationalism  for  fellow- 
ship, but  in  connection  with  the  Synods  of  Auburn, 
Geneva  and  Genesee,  also  exscinded  by  the  General 
Assembly,  the  New  School  Presbyterian  Church  was 
founded  and  flourished  until  the  reunion  of  the  Old 
and  New  School  Presbyterian  Churches  was  efi^ected 
in  1869. 

Since  the  abrogation  of  the  Plan  of  Union  the  Pres- 
byterian and  Congregational  churches  of  the  Western 
Reserve  have  prosecuted  their  distinct  lines  of 
denominational  work,  with  little  practical  difference 


104  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

in  spiritual  and  educational  results.  No  one  can  re- 
view carefully,  however,  the  sincere  efforts  of  the 
early  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  settlers  of  the 
New  Connecticut  to  evolve  a  distinct  form  of  eccle- 
siasticism  for  their  day  and  generation,  without  won- 
dering whether  or  not  the  spirit  of  "High  Churchism," 
in  both  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  churches, 
will  ever  again  become  so  weakened  that  the  two  great 
denominations  so  closely  allied  may  ultimately  be 
welded  by  a  revived  Plan  of  Union  into  practical, 
wholesome  fellowship,  not  only  upon  the  Western 
Reserve  of  Ohio,  but  also  throughout  the  world  that 
is  to  be  won  for  Jesus  Christ. 


V.    PASTORATE    OF    THE    REVEREND 
SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN 

1835-1861 

Early  in  the  reign  of  James  the  First  in  England, 
the  Scotch  people  were  offered  special  inducements 
to  emigrate  to  Ireland.  A  large  response  of  colonists 
soon  made  Ulster  County  and  other  portions  of  North 
Ireland  exceedingly  prosperous.  In  the  course  of 
time,  however,  the  Scotch-Irish  became  sorely  op- 
pressed, the  English  having  destroyed  their  woolen 
trade.  The  new  adverse  conditions  prompted,  from 
1720  to  1770,  the  emigration  of  twelve  thousand  a 
year,  or  a  total  of  six  hundred  thousand  Scotch-Irish, 
to  the  American  colonies.  Thus  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  Revolutionary  War  the  Scotch-Irish  and  their 
descendants  constituted  almost  the  largest  single  race 
in  this  country. 

The  phrase  "Scotch-Irish"  is  a  misnomer  if  to 
anyone  it  implies  intermarriage  of  races.  There  was 
none  in  this  instance,  the  term  being  wholly  geo- 
graphical and  not  ethnological.  It  is  seldom  used  in 
Ireland,  where  the  people  of  the  north  are  called 
Ulstermen.  The  Scotch-Irish,  therefore,  are  merely 
the  Scotch  from  the  north  of  Ireland. 

Throughout  the  American  colonies  this  stream  of 
emigrants  scattered.  Comparatively  few,  about 
twenty  thousand,  found  homes  in  New  England, 
especially  along  the  Merrimac  River  and  in  parts  of 


106  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Vermont  and  New  Hampshire.  They  had  come  prin- 
cipally from  Londonderry  County,  Ireland;  hence 
the  founding  of  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire,  where 
in  1754  a  Presbyterian  church  of  over  seven  hundred 
communicants  flourished. 

The  Reverend  Samuel  Clark  Aiken,  D.D.,  the  first 
installed  pastor  of  the  Old  Stone  Church,  was  born  at 
Windham,  Vermont,  September  21,  1790,  of  Scotch- 
Irish  parents,  who  diligently  trained  their  eight  chil- 
dren in  the  faith  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  The 
father,  a  humble  farmer,  soon  discovered  that  one 
of  his  five  sons  was  not  inclined  to  follow  agricultural 
pursuits,  for  to  Samuel  farm  labor  proved  exceedingly 
irksome.  Having  perceived  the  bookish  tastes  of  the 
lad,  instead  of  lashing  him  to  manual  toil,  the  father 
wisely  allowed  this  son  to  follow  his  natural  inclina- 
tions. The  family  library,  although  poor  in  size,  was 
rich  in  quality.  The  modest  collection  included  the 
Bible,  the  Shorter  Catechism,  Watt's  Psalms  and 
Hymns',  while  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress  of 
Religion  in  the  Soul  had  been  added  to  the  Aiken 
library  in  a  peculiar  way. 

When  only  nine  years  of  age  Samuel  Aiken  had 
been  given  a  dollar  and  sent  to  Brattleboro  to  pur- 
chase a  book.  No  particular  literary  product  had 
been  specified,  and  the  lad  returned  with  the  famous 
work  of  Doddridge.  This  was  due,  however,  to  the 
choice  of  the  bookseller,  and  not  to  any  precocious 
trait  in  the  youthful  purchaser.  The  mother  to  whom 
had  been  committed  the  religious  care  of  her  five 
sons  and  three  daughters,  greatly  pleased  over  the 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  107 

outcome  of  Samuel's  trip,  proceeded  at  once  to  enlist 
his  interest  in  the  teachings  of  Doddridge.  In  the 
course  of  time  the  study  awoke  in  the  youth  a  deep 
sense  of  sin  and  of  his  need  of  a  Saviour. 

After  preparation  for  college  had  ended,  Samuel  C. 
Aiken  entered  Middlebury  in  a  class  a  year  ahead  of 
the  one  in  which  he  graduated,  ill  health  having 
forced  the  loss  of  a  year.  The  college  course,  espe- 
cially that  of  a  small  institution  of  higher  learning, 
such  as  Middlebury  College  was,  introduces  a  pupil 
to  a  little  world  of  itself,  and  no  one  can  compute  the 
interplay  of  influences  there  molding  character.  In 
college  young  Aiken  was  a  promising  youth  among 
strong  associates,  the  class  of  1814  at  Middlebury 
College  having  contained  members  destined  to  take 
high  rank  in  the  world.  There  were  Silas  Wright, 
who  dying  at  fifty-two  years  of  age,  had  filled  with 
honor  the  oflRce  of  governor  of  New  York  State, 
and  had  rendered  for  eleven  years  signal  service  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  along  with  colleagues 
like  Webster,  Benton,  Clay,  and  Calhoun;  Samuel 
Nelson,  afterwards  a  member  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court;  Carlos  Wilcox,  widely  known 
as  a  clergyman  and  poet,  long  before  he  died  at 
thirty-three;  Pleny  Fisk  and  Levi  Parsons,  early 
missionaries  to  Syria;  and  Sylvester  Larned,  whose 
eloquence  and  earnestness  reminded  auditors  of 
Whitefield,  and  who  died  of  the  yellow  fever  at 
New^  Orleans,  where  he  had  founded  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  that  city. 

Young  Aiken  went  from  Middlebury  to  Andover 


108  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Theological  Seminary,  where  he  also  found  whole- 
some associates.  One  of  these  was  Eleazer  T.  Fitch, 
who  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  became  professor  of 
divinity  and  pastor  of  Yale  College,  a  position  held 
with  honor  for  forty  years.  Licensed  to  preach  by 
the  Londonderry  Presbytery,  Samuel  C.  Aiken  went 
to  New  York  City  to  serve  the  Young  Men's  Mission- 
ary Society,  but  a  call  soon  came  from  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Utica,  N.  Y.  The  trip  by  coach 
from  New  York  City  to  his  new  field  consumed  three 
days  and  three  nights.  The  Utica  congregation  was 
strong  and  influential,  but  during  this  first  pastorate 
of  eighteen  years  many  exciting  questions  arose  in 
central  New  York  State,  such  as  the  new  measures 
devised  to  promote  revivals  and  the  increasing  con- 
flict between  the  old  and  new  theology. 

Dr.  Aiken,  constitutionally  conservative,  was  not 
easily  moved  by  agitations  that  excited  many;  still 
with  all  his  heart  he  believed  in  revivals,  and  it  was 
in  the  Utica  Presbyterian  Church  that  Charles  G. 
Finney  first  became  extensively  known  as  a  success- 
ful evangelist.  The  two  men  remained  ever  fast  per- 
sonal friends,  although  Dr.  Aiken  had  little  sym- 
pathy with  many  peculiarities  of  President  Finney's 
theology.  In  doctrinal  views  he  sided  with  Nettleton; 
in  religious  work  he  labored  with  Finney. 

The  Utica  pastorate  was  very  successful,  but  hope 
for  better  health  prompted  a  change.  This  decision 
was  announced,  greatly  to  the  sorrow  of  his  Utica 
congregation,  and  a  lady  member  sought  to  dissuade 
her  pastor  from  leaving  Utica,  by  means  of  a  poem 


Samuel  C  Aiken 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  111 

portraying  the  hardships,  evils,  and  general  barbar- 
ism of  the  Western  Reserve,  including  in  her  literary 
production  a  pathetic  description  of  a  shipwreck  on 
Lake  Erie.  The  poetical  effusion,  however,  did  not 
alter  her  pastor's  decision. 

A  number  of  Cleveland  people  who  had  previously 
resided  in  or  near  Utica  had  highly  recommended 
Dr.  Aiken  to  members  of  the  Stone  Church.  One 
admirer  of  the  eastern  minister  was  Mr.  Truman  P. 
Handy,  who  having  lived  in  earlier  years  near  Utica 
had  become  acquainted  with  Dr.  Aiken.  There  were 
others  living  in  Cleveland  who  had  known  Dr.  Aiken 
in  Utica.  One  of  these  was  Mr.  Alexander  Seymour, 
who  came  to  Cleveland  in  1834  to  enter  the  banking 
business.  So  lasting  was  the  friendship  between  the 
two  men  that  they  purchased  adjoining  lots  in  Erie 
Street  Cemetery,  that  they  might  not  be  parted  in 
death.  Furthermore  the  wife  of  Dr.  Aiken  was  a 
cousin  of  Judge  Sherlock  J.  Andrews,  who  came  to 
Cleveland  in  1825. 

This  first  installed  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church  came 
to  Cleveland  in  the  prime  of  life.  According  to  Mr. 
Handy's  description, 

He  possessed  a  large  and  commanding  figure,  fine  features, 
dark  complexion,  black  hair,  a  steady  voice  and  a  deep 
mind,  which  when  roused  to  its  full  power  was  possessed 
of  surprising  force. 

Another  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Aiken  thus  de- 
scribed him: 

In  the  earHer  years  of  Hfe  Dr.  Aiken  was  tall,  erect  and 
of  symmetrical  proportions.    His  countenance  was  attrac- 


in  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

tive,  combining  a  high  degree  of  dignity,  intelHgence,  and 
amiabihty.  In  manner  he  was  rather  precise,  yet  cour- 
teous and  companionable.  As  a  preacher  he  was  at 
times  very  able  and  eloquent;  at  other  times  less  impres- 
sive, but  always  pleasing  and  instructive.  When  thor- 
oughly aroused  he  spoke  with  great  power  and  eloquence. 

Although  the  Cleveland  parish  was  inferior  in  size 
and  prestige  compared  with  the  eastern  one  that  he 
had  left,  the  new  pastor  soon  exhibited  the  same 
power  of  drawing  about  him  a  body  of  business  and 
professional  men,  and  of  laying  solid  foundations  for 
religious  upbuilding.  The  first  appearance  in  the 
Cleveland  pulpit,  however,  was  not  calculated  to 
enthuse  the  pastor-elect.  It  was  upon  the  first  Sab- 
bath in  June,  1835,  and  Dr.  Aiken  naturally  thought 
that  curiosity  alone  would  prompt  a  large  congrega- 
tion, but  to  his  surprise  the  church  was  only 
half-filled.  Having  expressed  perplexity  over  the 
situation,  he  learned  that  the  curious  element  in  the 
community  had  gone  to  a  horse  race,  held  at  the 
same  hour  as  that  of  the  morning  service. 

Two  brief  sessional  records  introduce  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Reverend  Samuel  C.  Aiken,  D.D.,  as 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleveland: 

October  25,  1835.  Resolved,  that  the  Installation  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Aiken  take  place  the  second  week  in  November,  or 
sooner  or  later,  as  may  best  suit  him  and  the  Presbytery. 

Again, 

The  Installation  of  Rev.  Mr.  Aiken  over  the  Church  and 
Congregation  took  place  on  Tuesday  evening,  November 
24,  1835.     Sermon  by  Mr.  Finney. 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  113 

According  to  the  minutes  of  Cleveland  Presbytery 
the  installation  was  conducted  at  "an  adjourned,  but 
well-attended  meeting  of  Presbytery."  Professor 
Charles  G.  Finney,  who  had  just  accepted  the  chair 
of  theology  in  Oberlin  College,  delivered  the  sermon; 
the  Reverend  John  Keys,  of  Dover,  offered  prayer  of 
installation;  the  Reverend  Daniel  W.  Lathrop,  agent 
for  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  for  the 
Reserve  and  Michigan,  gave  the  charge  to  the  pastor; 
the  Reverend  Daniel  C.  Blood,  of  Strongsville,  de- 
livered the  charge  to  the  people;  and  the  Reverend 
Horace  Smith,  of  Richfield,  offered  the  closing  prayer. 

Before  his  installation  Dr.  Aiken  had  been  on  the 
field  about  six  months,  having  preached  his  first  ser- 
mon June  7,  1835.  Under  the  greater  stability  of  a 
settled  pastorate  church  life  assumed  more  uniform 
character.  Uncertainties  as  to  church  government 
which  had  periodically  disturbed  the  congregation 
disappeared,  and  the  Presbyterian  polity  was  perma- 
nently established,  in  accordance  with  the  original 
charter  of  January  5,  1827. 

Not  until  1875  did  elders  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  begin  to  be  elected  for  definite  terms  instead 
of  for  life.  The  limited  term  was  to  be  not  less  than 
three  years  and  the  session  divided  into  three  classes, 
one  to  be  elected  annually.  Elders  chosen  for  the 
limited  term  were  not  divested  of  ordination  rights 
if  not  reelected,  but  were  entitled  to  represent  their 
churches  in  higher  judicatories  when  appointed  by 
session  or  Presbytery.  In  1885  this  limited  term  of 
election  was  applied  to  deacons. 


114  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

In  the  case  of  the  Stone  Church,  however,  at  the 
beginning  of  Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate  the  following 
action  was  taken  June  26,  1835: 

Resolved,  that  we  elect  six  brethren  whose  terms  of  office 
shall  expire  in  the  following  manner,  viz.,  the  two  oldest 
shall  go  out  the  first  year;  the  next  two  in  age  the  second 
and  the  last  two  the  third  year.  After  three  years  their 
term  of  service  shall  expire  according  to  the  seniority  of 
office  and  not  of  age.  Vacancies  are  to  be  filled  annually 
and  the  same  individuals  may  be  reelected. 

Three  deacons  were  elected  in  the  same  manner,  so 
that  the  term  of  one  should  expire  annually.  This 
shows  that  the  Stone  Church,  in  respect  to  the  limited 
term  of  service,  both  of  elders  and  deacons,  was  far 
in  advance  of  the  denomination  with  which  it  was 
affiliated. 

Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate  commenced  when  radical  civic 
changes  were  impending  and  the  pioneer  village  was 
rapidly  becoming  a  city.  The  population  had  grown 
to  five  thousand  eighty,  having  doubled  from  1833 
to  1835.  The  earlier  hardships  of  travel  disappear- 
ing, emigrants  were  rushing  from  the  eastern  states 
to  share  in  the  wealth  of  the  "far  west."  Lake 
steamers  were  taxed  to  their  capacity,  and  the  future 
metropolis  of  Ohio  began  to  reap  harvests  of  men 
and  money. 

Rivalry  between  the  settlements  on  opposite  sides 
of  the  river  began  to  wax  bitter.  Josiah  Barber  having 
built  his  log-cabin  on  the  west  bank  in  1819,  the 
Buffalo  Company  in  1831  also  purchased  there  a  farm, 
embracing  the  lowlands  toward  the  mouth  of  the 
dividing  stream.  These  were  soon  covered  with  ware- 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  115 

houses;  while  on  the  bluffs  stores  and  residences 
appeared;  hotels  were  erected  and  preparations  made 
for  the  founding  of  a  city  that  would  outrival  the 
older  one  on  the  eastern  bank. 

The  mouth  of  the  crooked  stream  was  improved 
for  navigation,  and  when  steps  were  taken  in  1836 
to  secure  a  city  charter  for  Cleveland,  leading  citizens 
made  a  sincere  attempt  to  unite  the  rival  settlements. 
All  negotiations,  however,  proved  abortive,  and  rep- 
resentatives of  the  jealous  communities  started  post- 
haste for  Columbus,  each  determined  to  outstrip  the 
other  in  securing  a  municipal  charter.  Great  was  the 
mortification  of  the  residents  of  Cleveland  when  it 
became  known  that  the  representatives  of  Ohio  City, 
the  younger  settlement,  had  won  the  race. 

Mr.  James  S.  Clark  built  in  1835  a  bridge  connect- 
ing Cleveland  and  Ohio  City.  This  philanthropic 
structure  was  devoted  to  public  use  until  Cleveland 
and  Ohio  City  had  obtained  charters,  when  each 
claimed  jurisdiction  over  the  connecting  link,  and 
this  led  to  the  famous  Battle  of  the  Bridge.  A  field- 
piece  and  weapons  of  various  kinds  were  brought  into 
action;  the  draw  of  the  bridge  was  cut,  and  parts  of 
the  abutments  were  demolished.  Ohio  City's  forces 
were  led  by  the  Reverend  Dr.  Pickands,  who  first 
offered  prayer  for  the  success  of  his  followers.  After 
three  combatants  had  been  seriously  wounded,  and 
others  had  been  badly  bruised,  a  Cleveland  marshal 
transferred  the  war  of  weapons  to  the  courts. 

At  the  beginning  of  Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate  the  Stone 
Church  was  strengthened  by  the  coming  into  mem- 


116  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

bership  of  a  number  of  talented  young  men  who  soon 
took  high  rank  in  the  professions.  The  large  number 
of  able  lawyers  was  very  marked.  In  1833  Hiram  A. 
Willson,  a  graduate  of  Hamilton  College,  came  from 
New  York  State  to  Cleveland.  He  became  judge  of 
the  United  States  District  Court  and  presided  at 
numerous  famous  trials,  such  as  the  Oberlin  Rescue 
Case. 

In  1834  Colonel  Charles Wh  ittlesey  settled  in  Cleve- 
land. He  had  graduated  from  West  Point  in  1831  and 
remained  in  army  service  until  the  close  of  the  Black 
Hawk  War.  Although  advanced  in  years  for  military 
life  he  served  in  the  Civil  War  until  the  Battle  of 
Shiloh,  when  he  found  it  necessary  to  retire.  In  1834 
he  opened  a  law  office,  but  no  one  profession  could 
claim  him.  He  was  part  owner  and  editor  of  the 
Whig  and  Herald,  an  author,  scientist,  especially 
gifted  in  geological  research,  and  his  literary  works 
were  prolific.  They  comprised  at  the  time  of  his  death 
one  hundred  ninety-one  historical,  archaeological, 
scientific  and  religious  treatises.  He  was  a  leader  in  the 
founding  of  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
and  had  a  reputation  in  Europe,  as  well  as  in  America, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  the  New  York  Herald, 
at  the  time  of  his  death. 

In  1836  three  young  men  settled  in  Cleveland.  One 
was  William  Bingham,  who  at  twenty  years  of  age 
came  from  Andover,  N.  H.  He  entered  the  hardware 
business,  and  founded  the  noted  Wm.  Bingham  Com- 
pany. His  son,  Charles  W.  Bingham,  is  a  member  of 
the  Stone  Church  and  for  the  last  sixteen  years  has 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  117 

been  a  valued  trustee,  A  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Dud- 
ley S.  Blossom,  is  also  a  member  this  centennial  year. 
Another  young  man  who  arrived  in  1836  was  Frank- 
lin T.  Backus,  a  Yale  College  graduate,  who  became 
a  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Bolton  and  Kelley,  and 
rose  to  eminence  in  his  profession.  He  married  the 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Mygatt,  served  as 
an  elder  in  the  Stone  Church,  while  the  Law  Depart- 
ment of  Western  Reserve  University  bears  his  name. 

The  third  young  man  to  arrive  in  1836  was  Moses 
C.  Younglove,  whose  wife  was  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Aiken. 
At  first  the  proprietor  of  a  bookstore  and  printing 
company,  he  became  a  prominent  manufacturer  and 
after  fifty-six  years'  residence  in  Cleveland  died  in 
California. 

The  Stone  Church  early  received  the  support  of 
Dr.  David  Long,  the  first  physician  to  reside  in  Cleve- 
land, but  in  1835  there  came  into  the  membership  of 
the  Stone  Church  Dr.  Erasmus  Cushing,  who  had 
received  a  very  thorough  medical  training  at  Williams 
College,  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  other 
eastern  schools,  and  had  practiced  ten  years  at  Lanes- 
boro,  Mass.  He  practiced  medicine  in  Cleveland  until 
almost  ninety-one  years  of  age,  the  son.  Dr.  H.  Kirke 
Cushing,  having  been  associated  with  the  father 
toward  the  end  of  the  latter's  life. 

In  1840  a  celebrated  medical  teacher,  as  well  as 
practitioner,  came  to  Cleveland  and  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Stone  Church.  Dr.  John  Delamater,  having 
been  prominently  identified  with  medical  schools  in 
Massachusetts  and  New  York  State,  finally  came  to 


118  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  medical  college  at  Willoughby,  Ohio,  and  thence 
to  Cleveland,  where  in  1842  he  became  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Western  Reserve  Medical  College,  in 
which  he  lectured  until  1860.  At  the  same  time  he 
gave  courses  at  Bowdoin  and  Dartmouth  Colleges  and 
in  other  medical  institutions.  He  is  said  to  have 
delivered  seventy  different  courses  of  lectures,  and 
that  his  command  of  pure  Saxon  speech  was  so  re- 
markable that  in  classes  and  at  court  trials  he  never 
was  misunderstood. 

These  are  good  examples  of  the  young  men  whose 
warm  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Stone  Church  Dr. 
Aiken  was  able  to  enlist.  From  1833  to  1843  the 
Reverend  Joseph  Breck,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
was  a  helpful  attendant  at  the  Stone  Church.  He  had 
been  for  seven  years  a  home  missionary  at  Brecks- 
ville,  Ohio,  prior  to  his  having  returned  to  Massa- 
chusetts for  a  bride.  The  couple  then  came  to  Cleve- 
land, where  their  home  was  on  Superior  Street,  the 
later  site  of  the  J.  F.  Ryder  Photograph  Company. 
Active  ministerial  service  having  been  relinquished 
on  account  of  delicate  health,  this  home  missionary 
turned  to  the  preparation  of  young  men  for  college. 
His  wife  having  died  in  1835  he  removed  to  a  farm 
on  Brecksville  Road  in  Newburgh,  where  the  rest  of 
his  life  was  spent.  There  he  sustained  the  same  help- 
ful relation  to  the  Newburgh  Presbyterian  Church 
that  he  had  maintained  in  connection  with  the  Stone 
Church. 

Toward  the  close  of  Dr.  Aiken's  second  year  in 
Cleveland    the    church    had    become    too    small    to 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  119 

accommodate  attendance  upon  divine  services,  but 
the  shape  of  the  building  prevented  enlargement.  The 
church  society,  furthermore,  was  still  in  debt,  and 
disinclined  to  assume  heavier  responsibilities.  A  lack 
of  sittings,  the  annual  competition  for  ''slips, "  and 
their  high  prices,  not  only  tended  to  exclude  the  poor 
and  thus  occasion  cavil  and  dissatisfaction,  but  also 
to  drive  away  members  to  other  churches.  Under 
the  cramped  conditions  ''twenty  of  our  best  families" 
withdrew  to  form  a  Congregational  Society,  not  on 
account,  however,  of  any  dissatisfaction  with  the 
Presbyterian  polity.  Owing  either  to  the  scarcity  of 
Congregationalists,  or  to  the  financial  panic  of  1837, 
after  a  year's  experiment  the  colonizing  enterprise 
was  abandoned  and  the  building  sold  to  pay  debts. 
This  new  religious  society  had  sought  the  care  of 
Cleveland  Presbytery,  "Mr.  Penfield  having  taken 
his  seat  as  a  ruling  elder,"  again  emphasizing  the 
mixture  of  the  modes  of  church  government.  This 
peaceful  exodus  having  failed,  the  members  returned 
to  their  former  church  home. 

In  his  twenty-fifth  anniversary  sermon  delivered 
in  1860,  Dr.  Aiken  thus  described  the  colonizing  ten- 
dency of  the  Stone  Church: 

It  may  be  proper  to  state  here  that  during  my  pastorate 
five  colonies  have  gone  from  this  congregation.  While 
some  of  them  were  small,  others  were  large,  and  all  took 
from  us  more  or  less  valuable  members.  The  loss  was 
often  depressing  and  painful,  because  it  caused  the  loss 
of  youthful  and  active  communicants,  whose  help  was 
needed  in  the  Sunday  School.  Although  urged  to  do 
so  I  never  opposed  these  movements,  and  while  for  a  time 


120  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

they  diminished  our  numbers,  they  added  to  the  general 
strength  and  prosperity  of  religion.  It  can  also  be  asserted 
that  these  colonies  were  dictated  by  no  jealousy;  by  no 
dissatisfaction  or  unfriendly  feeling  on  the  part  of  any- 
one. I  am  happy  to  state  that  with  every  new  church 
society  that  has  grown  out  of  the  old  one,  and  with  all 
others  of  every  name,  we  have  maintained  the  unity  of 
spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  Where  we  could  not  agree 
in  principle  or  sympathize  in  feeling,  we  have  agreed 
quietly  to  differ. 

The  year  that  Dr.  Aiken  came  to  Cleveland  a 
street-railway  was  laid  along  Euclid  Avenue  as  far  as 
the  East  Cleveland  stone  quarries,  and  designed  to  be 
extended  to  Newburgh.  Vehicles  were  drawn  on 
wooden  rails  by  horses  driven  tandem,  carrying  not 
only  building  material  to  a  stone-yard  on  the  Public 
Square,  but  also  passengers  who  might  wish  to  take 
advantage  of  the  two  trips  per  day. 

In  1840  Dr.  Aiken  witnessed  the  first  recorded 
industrial  riot,  that  of  canal  diggers.  The  contractor 
had  paid  the  men  seventy-five  cents  a  day,  and  the 
strikers  stoned  the  "scabs"  willing  to  work  at  that 
remuneration.  When  it  is  known,  however,  that 
chickens  then  sold  for  a  dollar  a  dozen;  butter  at  five 
cents  a  pound;  the  best  cuts  of  meat  at  five  cents  a 
pound,  the  wages  of  the  canal  diggers  were  not  as 
slavish  as  otherwise  they  might  seem  to  have  been. 

Although  the  first  burial-ground  had  been  located 
at  the  southeastern  corner  of  Ontario  and  Prospect 
Streets,  the  God's  Acre  where  Dr.  Aiken  must  have 
most  frequently  read  the  committal  service  was  Erie 
Street  Cemetery,  consisting  often  and  a  quarter  acres 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  121 

given  the  village  in  1808  by  members  of  the  Con- 
necticut Land  Company.  For  some  time  this  burial- 
place  was  not  in  favor,  as  it  seemed  to  the  early 
settlers  to  be  too  near  the  wooded  outskirts.  The 
Stone  Church  resolved  December  7,  1843,  to  pur- 
chase 

A  square  piece  of  ground  in  the  City  Cemetery  to  be 
used  as  a  burial-place  for  the  poor  in  the  church,  and 
for  Christian  strangers  who  may  die  among  us. 

Later  an  order  was  drawn  for  sixty  dollars  on  the 
treasury  for  payment  of  the  six  lots  which  contained 
seven  hundred  sixty-eight  square  feet.  This  was 
in  the  Erie  Street  Cemetery,  and  three  adult  burials 
are  recorded,  the  fourth  having  been  that  of  a  little 
girl.  About  1882  the  city  desiring  these  central 
burial-lots  for  the  site  of  a  receiving  vault  removed 
the  bodies  of  the  adults  to  Woodland  Cemetery  to  a 
plot  of  ground  adjoining  one  owned  by  the  Second 
Presbyterian  Church.  Two  of  the  adults  were  the 
Reverend  and  Mrs.  Tomlinson. 

The  burial  of  the  little  girl,  Barbara  Forman,  was 
in  connection  with  a  tragedy.  She  was  only  eight 
years  of  age,  and  on  the  Erie  Street  Cemetery's  book 
the  cause  of  death  is  given  as^Whipped  by  a  teacher." 
For  some  reason  her  body  was  not  removed  to  Wood- 
land Cemetery,  but  was  changed  at  Erie  Street  Ceme- 
tery to  a  spot  just  west  of  the  grave  of  Joe  O.  Sot, 
the  Indian  chieftain.  The  little  girl's  grave  is 
marked  by  a  small  stone  on  one  side  of  which  is  the 
inscription  giving  her  name,  the  names  of  her  parents 
and  time  of  death,  October  15,  1856.   Upon  the  back 


122  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

of  the  stone  four  lines,  now  almost  effaced,  were 
carved.    They  contain  these  words: 

Little  Barbara  died  from  a  whipping,  a  cruel  punishment 
inflicted  by  a  bigoted  Teacher  for  her  attendance  upon 
the  Ragged  School. 

The  Ragged  School  was  founded  at  the  foot  of 
Champlain  Street  by  the  St.  Clair  Street  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Some  of  the  young  men  con- 
nected with  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
aided  in  the  work,  especially  in  the  Sunday  School. 
The  community  was  mainly  Irish  Catholic,  and  the 
older  children  and  parents  stoned  the  building  and 
attempted  to  destroy  the  meetings  until  a  policeman 
was  installed  at  the  door  of  the  building.  With  the 
serving  of  food  and  distribution  of  garments  more 
good  will  was  secured.  The  little  girl  buried  by  the 
Stone  Church  was  a  pupil  in  St.  Mary's  Parochial 
School,  taught  by  Frederick  Bowers,  a  German 
teacher  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age.  He  was  not 
a  priest  but  a  married  man.  At  the  coroner's  inquest 
(after  the  death  of  Barbara  Forman)  children  testified 
that  the  teacher  placed  the  little  girl  across  a  chair 
compelling  her  to  hold  the  rounds  while  he  beat  her 
with  the  handle  of  a  thick  cane.  The  child  continued 
to  attend  school  for  eighteen  days  and  then  after 
eight  days'  illness  she  died.  The  postmortem  re- 
vealed conditions  showing  that  death  was  caused  by 
the  cruel  whipping.  The  teacher  was  bound  over  to 
the  Criminal  Court  under  six  thousand  dollars  bond, 
and  the  Stone  Church  people  interested  in  the  case 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  123 

evidently  buried  the  child  upon  the  Erie  Street 
Cemetery  lot. 

A  series  of  revival  meetings  had  been  conducted 
in  the  Stone  Church  during  the  winter  of  1841  by 
the  Reverend  J.  T.  Avery,  a  Congregational  minister 
who  came  to  Cleveland  at  thirty  years  of  age,  and 
resided  here  forty  years.  He  had  a  very  successful 
evangelistic  career  and  was  a  warm  friend  of  Presi- 
dent Finney.  Particularly  effective  was  this  evan- 
gelist in  college  towns  in  bringing  students  to  Christ 
and  to  the  consecration  of  their  lives  to  the  ministry. 
To  the  end  of  life  he  remained  a  close  friend  of  Dr. 
Aiken.  The  Reverend  Frederick  T.  Avery,  rector  of 
St.  John's  Episcopal  Church  of  this  city,  is  a  son 
of  the  evangelist. 

At  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  April  5, 
1840,  following  a  series  of  evangelistic  meetings,  one 
hundred  eighty-eight  members  were  received  into  the 
Stone  Church,  twenty-five  by  letters  from  sister 
churches,  and  one  hundred  sixty-three  on  confession 
of  their  faith.  The  summary  of  the  year's  activities 
reported  to  Presbytery  gave  two  hundred  thirty-five 
as  the  total  number  of  additions  for  the  year,  making 
a  membership  of  five  hundred  one  in  April  of  1840. 

Pioneer  revivals  were  marked  by  emotional  effects, 
even  when  conducted  by  very  conservative  home 
missionaries,  such  as  the  Reverend  Joseph  Badger,  in 
whose  Austinburgh  Church  one  of  the  first  awaken- 
ings occurred.  They  usually  commenced  with  serv- 
ices preparatory  to  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  were  attended  by  a  variety  of  physical 


124  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

movements,  such  as  falling,  jerking,  rolling,  running, 
dancing,  barking  and  trance  or  vision  experiences.  So 
violent  became  some  that  the  head  jerked  from  side 
to  side  with  such  rapidity  that  the  features  could  not 
be  discerned;  while  there  was  actual  danger  of  the 
neck  being  broken.  People  were  seized  when  guarding 
against  the  influence  and  some  cursed  at  every  jerk. 
Travelers  on  a  journey  and  men  at  work  were 
aff^ected,  the  scoffer  as  well  as  the  devout  seeker 
after  a  blessing. 

Physicians  who  visited  the  scenes  ready  to  attribute 
the  phenomena  to  unnerved  conditions  were  seized 
with  the  jerking;  still  Badger  and  other  religious 
leaders  placed  no  special  emphasis  upon  the  bodily 
exercises  as  the  effect  of  God's  spirit.  This  type  of 
revival  had  ceased  when  the  Stone  Church  experi- 
enced its  first  work  of  grace,  yet  the  special  meetings 
were  deeply  emotional.  There  was,  however,  an 
ethical  influence  in  them.  One  man  arose  in  a  meet- 
ing, for  example,  and  confessed  that  when  he  had 
sold  a  saddle  for  a  man  on  commission  he  had  falsi- 
fied in  regard  to  the  amount  received  when  making 
settlement  with  the  owner.  Another  confessor  de- 
clared that  when  he  had  painted  Deacon  Whitaker's 
fence  he  had  used  whiting  instead  of  white  lead.  A 
third  man  touched  by  the  evangelist's  appeal  con- 
fessed that  in  the  sale  of  cheese  he  had  defrauded 
to  the  extent  of  fifty  dollars.  This  confession  may 
have  brought  peace  to  the  soul,  but  the  younger 
portion  of  the  audience  became  so  impressed  by  the 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  125 

admission  that  whenever  the  man  appeared  on  the 
streets,  the  lads  would  say  "There  goes  old  cheese." 

The  first  manual  of  members  issued  by  the  Stone 
Church  appeared  in  1842,  one  thousand  copies  having 
been  printed  by  a  committee  composed  of  Deacon 
Truman  P.  Handy,  the  Reverend  Dr.  S.  C.  Aiken, 
and  Dr.  David  Long.  There  is  this  rather  excep- 
tional record:  "June  18,  1840,  a  Miss  Amelia  Bell, 
colored  woman,  was  received."  The  first  City  Direc- 
tory of  Cleveland,  issued  in  1837,  contains  the  names 
of  nine  colored  people,  each  one's  name  starred  to 
distinguish  the  negro  from  the  white  population. 
Five  of  the  nine  negro  citizens  were  hairdressers; 
one  a  cook,  one  a  mason,  and  two  mariners.  The 
Miss  Amelia  Bell  received  into  the  Stone  Church 
in  1840  probably  was  the  daughter  of  a  boatman 
named  Bell. 

The  large  increase  in  church  membership  prompted 
a  secession  of  some  dissatisfied  with  Dr.  Aiken's  con- 
servative position  on  the  abolition  question,  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  Congregational  church.  The 
band  of  separatists,  however,  was  speedily  disin- 
tegrated by  "Second  Adventism;"  by  the  prevailing 
"Perfectionism,"  and  kindred  agitations.  The  spirit 
of  extreme  disputation  did  not  tend  to  church  growth, 
and  bankruptcy  finally  forced  the  congregation  to 
sell  its  edifice  and  to  disband.  A  number  returned  to 
their  former  church  home. 

A  second  attempt  was  made  June  12,  1844,  and 
that  successfully,  to  form  a  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  on  the  old  charter  of  1837.   This  was  in  the 


126  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

spirit  of  utmost  good  feeling,  although  for  a  time  the 
exodus  was  considered  a  serious  crippUng  of  the 
mother  organization.  The  loss  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  P. 
Handy  was  especially  felt.  They  had  come  to  Cleve- 
land in  1832  from  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Geneva,  N.  Y.,  and  in  the  Stone  Church  Mr.  Handy 
at  once  gave  promise  of  what  he  afterwards  became, 
as  a  Christian  layman  and  leader,  not  only  in  the 
Stone  Church,  but  also  in  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  the  Presbyterian  Union  of  which  he 
was  president  for  nineteen  years,  and  then  president 
emeritus  until  the  time  of  his  death.  Equally  valued 
and  honored  was  he  in  Presbytery  and  the  higher 
courts  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  Stone 
Church  Mr.  Handy  was  Sunday  School  superinten- 
dent from  1833  until  he  went  to  the  Second  Church 
in  1844.  He  and  his  wife  sang  in  the  choir  and  were 
musical  favorites  throughout  the  community. 

Of  the  Stone  Church  music  at  the  beginning  of 
Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate,  Mr.  Handy  said  at  the  semi- 
centennial celebration  in  1870, 

There  was  never  any  trouble  in  securing  good  music  for 
the  church  and  Sunday  School.  There  was  a  bass  viol 
and  flute  accompaniment  for  the  choir,  whose  members 
sang  without  pay,  and  with  the  spirit  as  well  as  with  the 
understanding. 

The  Severance  brothers  were  also  lovers  of  music  and 
valued  members  of  the  choir.  These  four  brothers 
were  the  sons  of  Dr.  Robert  B.  Severance,  of  Shel- 
burne,  Massachusetts.  Their  mother  was  a  cousin 
of  Dr.  David  Long,  and  after  her  early  death  the 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  .  127 

brothers  came  to  Cleveland,  where  they  were  wel- 
comed into  the  Long  family.  The  oldest  brother, 
Solomon  Louis  Severance,  who  married  Miss  Mary 
Long,  was  a  dry-goods  merchant,  but  he  died  at 
twenty-six  years  of  age  at  Red  Sulphur  Springs,  Vir- 
ginia, where  he  had  gone  for  his  health,  and  there 
the  burial  took  place.  The  second  brother,  Theodoric 
C.  Severance,  was  a  bank  teller  and  cashier.  He 
married  and  later  went  east,  and  finally  on  account 
of  ill  health  to  California,  where  he  passed  away  in 
1892.  The  widow,  very  prominent  in  social  and  club 
life  of  Los  Angeles,  died  not  long  ago.  The  two 
other  brothers,  Erasmus  D.  and  John  Long  Sever- 
ance, never  married,  and  died  in  1840  and  1859  re- 
spectively. They  were  also  connected  with  Cleveland 
banks.  The  four  brothers  were  musical,  and  not  only 
strengthened  the  Stone  Church  choir,  but  also  sup- 
ported enthusiastically  every  good  work  in  the  com- 
munity. 

Of  the  fifty-eight  persons  who  became  charter  mem- 
bers of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  fifty-three 
were  dismissed  from  the  parent  organization.  The 
meeting  called  to  form  this  new  Presbyterian  Church 
was  held  in  the  session  room  of  the  Stone  Church, 
and  Dr.  Aiken  presided.  In  addition  to  the  loss  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  P.  Handy  there  was  also  the  dis- 
missal of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  David  Long,  Mrs.  Mary  H. 
Severance  and  John  L.  Severance,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Samuel  H.  Mather,  and  others  who,  for  many  years, 
were  prominent  in  Presbyterian  circles. 

Six  years  after  the  colony  formed  the  Second  Pres- 


128  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

byterian  Church,  partly  on  account  of  strenuous  anti- 
slavery  agitation,  another  church  of  thirty  members 
was  formed  March  25,  1850,  and  known  for  two  years 
as  the  "Free  Presbyterian  Church,"  and  then  the 
Plymouth  Congregational  Church,  whose  valuable 
property  was  recently  sold.  Part  of  the  proceeds  of 
this  sale  has  been  set  aside  for  denominational  church 
extension,  and  the  rest  devoted  to  the  building  of  a 
Congregational  church  on  Shaker  Heights.  Still 
another  colony  departed  January  25,  1853,  a  peaceful 
exodus  due  wholly  to  the  overcrowded  condition  of 
the  mother  congregation.  The  Euclid  Street,  after- 
wards known  as  the  Euclid  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church,  first  located  on  Euclid  Avenue,  corner  of 
what  was  Brownell  Street,  now  East  Fourteenth 
Street,  was  organized  with  thirteen  members,  in- 
cluding the  veteran,  Elisha  Taylor.  Instead  of 
crippling  the  parent  organization,  all  of  the  colonies 
given  forth  by  the  Stone  Church  only  illustrated  the 
great  law  that  "losing  one's  life  in  order  to  save  it" 
applies  to  the  prosperous  existence  of  churches  as 
well  as  to  their  individual  members. 

The  great  Hungarian  patriot,  Louis  Kossuth,  in 
whose  memory  a  few  years  ago  the  Hungarian  So- 
cieties of  Cleveland  unveiled  a  monument  at  Uni- 
versity Circle,  visited  Cleveland  January  31,  1852. 
At  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  addressed  a 
throng  of  citizens  from  the  balcony  of  the  American 
House,  and  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he 
delivered  an  address  at  Melodeon  Hall,  upon  which 
occasion  the  Honorable  Samuel  Starkweather,  of  the 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  129 

Stone  Church,  deHvered  an  address  of  welcome,  and 
Dr.  Aiken  spoke  words  of  welcome  in  behalf  of  the 
city's  clergy. 

During  January  of  1853,  as  the  last  colony  to  form 
the  Euclid  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  was  depart- 
ing, Dr.  Aiken  launched  the  project  of  constructing 
a  new  house  of  worship  upon  the  site  where  the 
primitive  stone  edifice  had  for  nineteen  years  served 
the  congregation,  whose  affection  for  the  original 
sanctuary  inspired  some  bard  to  pen  for  an  anni- 
versary occasion  these  lines: 

It  was  very  plain  in  its  outward  form, 
And  had  little  of  sculptured  grace, 

But  the  heirs  of  a  rich  inheritance 
Came  oft  to  that  hallowed  place. 

It  had  high-backed  pews  with  paneled  doors, 

That  opened  with  willing  hands; 
For  saint  and  sinner  welcome  found 

Alike  in  that  Christian  band. 

With  marked  alacrity  and  liberality  the  people  re- 
sponded to  Dr.  Aiken's  appeal,  and  two  years  later 
the  edifice  was  completed,  at  a  cost  of  sixty  thousand 
dollars.  A  large  audience  attended  August  12,  1855, 
the  dedication  of  what  was  then  a  notable  structure 
for  Cleveland.  Dr.  Aiken  delivered  the  dedicatory 
sermon,  and  was  assisted  by  the  Reverend  Frederick 
T.  Brown,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  [Old  School]  West- 
minster Presbyterian  Church;  the  Reverend  Joseph 
B.  Bittinger,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Euclid  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church;  the  Reverend  James  Shaw, 
D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Newburgh  Presbyterian  Church, 


130  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

and  by  President  Henry  L.  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  of 
Western  Reserve  College.  Thanks  were  given  that 
during  the  two  years  of  construction  no  toiler  on  the 
edifice  had  been  injured.  Of  the  furniture  installed 
the  rosewood  pulpit  elicited  the  greatest  admiration. 

Just  when  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleve- 
land began  to  be  popularly  known  as  the  Old  Stone 
Church  is  uncertain,  but  it  was  also  frequently  called 
"Dr.  Aiken's  Church." 

Scarcely  had  the  congregation  become  settled  in 
the  enjoyment  and  profit  of  the  new  church  home 
when  what  seemed  at  the  time  to  have  been  an  appall- 
ing calamity  fell  upon  the  parish.  Saturday  morning, 
March  7,  1857,  about  half-past  eleven  o'clock,  smoke 
appeared  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  church  roof, 
and  the  fire  beneath  began  to  spread  with  great 
rapidity.  All  that  the  fire  department  and  volunteer 
assistance  could  do  was  to  carry  out  of  the  audi- 
torium cushions,  chairs  and  books.  Several  persons 
attempting  to  save  the  beautiful  rosewood  pulpit 
barely  escaped  with  their  lives,  for  the  burning  roof 
began  to  give  way  while  the  hazard  was  being  made. 
The  roof  of  the  chapel  was  crushed.  Within  twenty 
minutes  the  stately  steeple,  two  hundred  thirty  feet 
high,  was  turned  into  a  flaming  torch.  Beginning  to 
sway  the  spire  finally  crashed  in  fragments  diagonally 
across  Ontario  Street.  Only  eighty  feet  of  the  wood- 
work fell,  there  having  been  one  hundred  fifty  feet  of 
stone  foundation  which  still  reared  its  blackened  walls 
high  above  surrounding  objects,  a  sad  wreck  of  the 
finest  edifice  in  the  city,  which  in  external  and  in- 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  131 

ternal  adornment  was  surpassed  by  few  churches  west 
of  New  York  City.  The  interior  of  the  chapel  was 
not  injured  to  any  great  extent,  and  the  stone  walls 
of  the  church  stood  as  strong  as  ever,  having  been 
well  protected  from  the  fierce  heat  by  the  inside 
Hning  of  brick. 

The  destruction  of  this  fine  church  building  was 
considered  a  great  disaster,  not  only  by  the  church 
members,  but  also  by  citizenship  in  general,  for  the 
edifice  with  its  high  towers  and  graceful,  lofty  spire 
was  regarded  by  everyone  as  useful  and  highly  orna- 
mental to  the  park  on  which  it  stood. 

The  Stone  Church  congregation  secured  Chapin's, 
later  known  as  Garrett's  Hall,  as  a  place  of  worship 
during  the  period  of  rebuilding.  The  gathering  the 
following  Sunday  morning  was  like  that  in  the 
''upper  chamber,"  and  the  text  taken  by  Dr.  Aiken 
was  Isaiah  64  :  11. 

Our  holy  and  beautiful  house,  where  our  fathers  praised 
thee,  is  burned  up  with  fire,  and  all  our  pleasant  things 
are  laid  waste. 

The  discourse  was  one  long  to  be  remembered  by 
those  who  heard  it.  The  preacher's  heart  was  full, 
but  not  too  full  for  utterance,  and  he  spoke  as  one 
submissive  in  spirit  to  a  great  personal  calamity.  The 
disaster,  however,  was  more  apparent  than  real. 
Churches  of  various  denominations  vied  with  one 
another  in  seeking  to  share  their  sanctuaries  with  the 
churchless  Presbyterians.  First  the  Baptists  and  then 
the  Second  and  Euclid  Avenue  Presbyterians  pressed 
their  invitations. 


132  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  seeming  disaster,  however,  not  only  cemented 
the  rapidly  growing  congregation  into  the  spirit  of 
abiding  unity,  but  it  likewise  revealed  a  pecuniary 
strength  hitherto  unsuspected.  Fortunately  fire  in- 
surance had  been  carried  to  the  extent  of  thirty 
thousand  dollars,  so  that  the  rebuilding  was  imme- 
diately undertaken.  Mr.  Amasa  Stone  gave  his  serv- 
ices freely  toward  the  supervision  of  the  work  of 
reconstruction.  On  January  17,  1858,  or  within  ten 
months  after  the  conflagration,  the  restored  edifice 
with  the  exception  of  the  galleries  and  the  spire  was 
dedicated.  Dr.  Aiken  conducted  the  morning  serv- 
ice, and  in  the  afternoon  the  dedicatory  sermon  was 
delivered  by  the  Reverend  Mr.  Carrier,  whose  iden- 
tity has  not  been  discovered.  The  restored  building 
had  been  thoroughly  furnished  and  presented  a  fine 
appearance,  according  to  the  account  of  the  dedica- 
tory exercises  reported  in  the  Plain  Dealer  the 
following  Monday  morning. 

A  notice  in  the  same  issue  of  this  Cleveland  paper 
may  give  a  better  conception  of  the  times  in  which 
the  above  church  history  was  enacted : 

Horace  Greeley  will  lecture  on  the  "Poets"  at  the  Melo- 
deon  this  evening.  He  edits  the  Tribune,  a  daily  paper 
in  New  York  City.  He  is  a  pretty  sharp  writer,  but  is 
principally  distinguished  for  wearing  a  dilapidated  drab 
coat  and  decayed  wool  hat.  With  the  exception  of  an 
occasional  game  of  euchre  and  ten-pins  with  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  Mr.  Greeley  takes  no  amusement  whatever. 
Many  persons  think  him  a  great  man,  and  he  rather  in- 
clines to  that  opinion  himself.  Success  to  him.  Long 
may  he  wave. 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  133 

The  author  of  this  news  item  ought  to  be  identified 
even  before  the  reader  scans  at  the  head  of  the  edi- 
torial page,  "Chas.  F.  Browne,  Assoc.  Editor,"  a 
writer  better  known  as  "Artemus  Ward." 

Just  prior  to  the  fire  of  1857  fifty  women  of  the 
congregation  formed  the  ''Ladies'  Society,"  for  the 
work  of  general  benevolence  without  regard  to 
nationality  or  creed,  and  likewise  to  render  financial 
assistance  to  the  Stone  Church.  Until  then  the  busi- 
ness interests  of  the  congregation  had  remained 
almost  exclusively  the  prerogative  of  the  men,  but 
finally  a  determination  seized  the  women  to  assert  an 
influence  beyond  the  home,  the  female  prayer- 
meeting,  and  sewing-circle.  In  the  sick-room  of  Mrs. 
Henrietta  Aiken,  the  pastor's  wife,  who  seldom  was 
able  to  leave  her  home,  conferences  had  been  held 
between  Mrs.  Aiken  and  Mrs.  Emma  Mason,  result- 
ing in  a  notice  from  the  pulpit  summoning  a  meeting 
of  all  the  ladies  of  the  congregation.  The  first  officers 
of  this  Ladies'  Society  were  Mrs.  Fanny  Parsons, 
president;  Mrs.  Julia  Starkweather,  vice-president; 
Mrs.  John  E.  Lyon,  secretary,  and  Mrs.  J.  B.  Waring, 
treasurer.  During  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  its 
existence  over  forty  thousand  dollars  was  credited  to 
woman's  work  in  the  Stone  Church.  To  this  society 
Dr.  Aiken  attributed  in  good  measure,  not  only  the 
gift  of  furniture  to  the  rebuilt  sanctuary,  but  also 
the  fact  that  there  was  freedom  from  debt,  after  the 
congregation  in  the  face  of  a  financial  panic  had  re- 
stored the  house  of  worship. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  during  the  pastorate  of 


134  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Dr.  Aiken  the  congregation  passed  through  two  of  the 
worst  panics  ever  experienced  by  the  nation.  The 
panic  of  1837  came  two  years  after  his  installation, 
and  during  the  rebuilding  of  the  edifice,  destroyed  by 
fire,  there  was  the  panic  of  1857.  Of  the  earUer  crash 
Dr.  Aiken  said  in  his  twenty-fifth  anniversary 
sermon: 

Like  the  shadow  of  the  sun-dial  of  Ahaz,  the  wheel  of  for- 
tune rolled  backward,  and  left  many  who  had  been  con- 
sidered rich  in  bankruptcy. 

Since  then  there  have  been  similar  periods,  but  none 
as  severe  as  that  one.  Men  turned  resolutely  to  the 
regaining  of  their  fortunes,  but  the  mind  seemed 
engrossed  with  material  things.  There  is  a  record 
that  during  at  least  two  years  of  that  financial  stress 
Dr.  Aiken  voluntarily  surrendered  two  hundred  dol- 
lars of  his  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  lest  he  be 
a  burden  to  his  people. 

The  excessive  severity  of  the  panic  of  1837  can  be 
better  appreciated  when  it  is  remembered  that  for 
ten  years  following  that  financial  crash  there  was  a 
great  scarcity  of  money  throughout  the  country. 
Commercial  transactions  returned  to  the  primitive 
exchange  of  commodities  to  such  an  extent  that  even 
land  was  purchased  by  work,  or  by  the  giving  of  some- 
thing other  than  money.  A  church  was  constructed 
in  Connecticut  wholly  through  the  gift  of  onions,  the 
main  product  of  the  community.  In  Cleveland  a 
building  was  erected  at  the  corner  of  St.  Clair  and 
Bond  Streets  during  that  period,  and  it  gained  the 
name  of  "Calico  Block,"  because  those  who  wrought 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  135 

upon  the  structure  were  paid  mainly  by  orders  upon 
the  owner's  store. 

In  Dr.  Aiken's  twenty-fifth  anniversary  sermon 
delivered  in  1860  there  was  this  tribute  paid  to  the 
Sunday  School  work  of  his  time: 

A  word  regarding  the  Sabbath  School  attached  to  this 
congregation,  the  oldest  I  believe  in  the  city.  There  was 
at  first  a  lack  of  room  and  a  scarcity  of  officers  and  teach- 
ers. The  colonies  departing  took  many  valued  workers 
among  the  young.  Still  with  much  exertion  on  the  part 
of  superintendent  and  teachers  our  school  has  always 
been  respectable,  both  in  interest  and  numbers.  Under 
God,  you,  my  friends,  who  have  labored  in  this  depart- 
ment, have  I  doubt  not  been  instrumental  in  doing  much 
good.  As  I  think  of  the  past,  I  recall  to  mind  some  of 
our  Sunday  School  scholars  who  departed  in  triumph  to 
the  better  world,  and  as  I  look  over  the  community  I  see 
multitudes  of  useful,  happy  citizens  who,  but  for  our 
training,  might  have  been  a  curse  to  themselves  and  to 
society.  Let  us  never  lose  our  love  for  the  Sabbath  School, 
nor  relax  our  efforts  to  extend  its  influence  in  this  city 
and  in  this  land. 

In  the  Sunday  School  known  to  Dr.  Aiken  were 
Lucius  Fairchild,  destined  to  become  governor  of 
Wisconsin;  George  Hoadley,  afterwards  governor  of 
Ohio;  Charles  A.  Otis  and  William  Castle,  who  be- 
came mayors  of  Cleveland;  Edwin  Cowles,  later 
editor  of  the  Cleveland  Leader,  and  Alfred  Cowles, 
his  brother,  who  became  editor  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune',  Douglass  Cleveland,  later  a  judge;  H.  Kirke 
Cushing,  in  the  course  of  time  a  very  prominent 
physician;  Reuben  F.  Smith,  for  many  years  an  elder 
in  the  Stone  Church,  and  president  of  the  Cleveland 


136  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

and  Pittsburgh  Railroad;  Elder  Solon  L.  Severance, 
and  many  others  who  became  influential  in  church 
and  state.  Four  of  the  teachers  went  as  foreign 
missionaries:  Dr.  N.  Adams  and  Miss  Sarah  Van 
Tyne,  to  Africa;  Mr,  Samuel  W.  Castle  to  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Hutchings  to  Ceylon. 
No  wonder  Dr.  Aiken  reviewed  with  great  satisfac- 
tion the  existence  of  a  Sunday  School  of  that  quality. 
Sixteen  years  of  Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate  had  elapsed 
before  Cleveland,  then  a  city  of  twenty-one  thousand 
one  hundred  forty  inhabitants,  became  the  terminal 
of  a  railroad  of  any  importance.  Early  in  1851  the 
Cleveland,  Columbus,  and  Cincinnati  Railroad  was 
completed,  and  the  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church  took 
a  more  prominent  part  in  the  celebration  commemo- 
rating the  arrival  of  the  first  train  than  he  had  antic- 
ipated. On  Washington's  Birthday  the  first  train 
brought  to  Cleveland  the  governor  of  the  state, 
mayors  of  cities  touched  by  the  new  road,  officers 
and  members  of  the  Ohio  Legislature  and  railway 
officials.  Prior  to  the  gala  day  Dr.  Aiken  had  casually 
mentioned  his  purpose  to  deliver  Sunday  morning  a 
sermon  on  "The  Moral  View  of  Railroads."  Much 
to  the  pastor's  chagrin  a  local  editor  made  a  news 
item  of  the  private  statement. 

That  Dr.  Aiken  felt  sensitive  over  this  unusual 
advertising  of  religious  goods  is  made  clear  by  the 
introductory  note  to  the  printed  sermon,  issued  in 
pamphlet  form  in  response  to  the  request  of  forty 
prominent  citizens  who  had  attended  the  service. 
The  apologetic  foreword  was. 

The  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  anticipating 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  137 

the  presence  of  strangers  on  the  Sabbath,  had  determined 
to  speak  on  the  absorbing  topic  of  the  day,  and  had  inti- 
mated the  same  to  one  or  two  friends.    It  so  happened 
that  one  of  our  editors  hearing  of  it  inserted  on  his  own 
responsibility  a   notice  of  it  in  his  paper,  which  circum- 
stance  will   account  for  the  large  number  of  strangers  in 
the  Old  Stone  Church. 
What  this  pastor  of  "ye  olden  time"  would  think  were 
he  to  peruse  the  church  notices  in  a  modern  Saturday 
paper,  with  their  cuts  of  churches  and  of  pastors  and 
frank    admissions    that    "great    sermons"    will    be 
delivered  both  Sunday  morning  and  evening,  can 
only  be  imagined. 

During  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Aiken  at  Utica,  N.  Y., 
he  had  preached  before  DeWitt  Clinton  and  party 
at  the  time  of  the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal.  The 
earlier  homiletic  material  may  have  been  applicable 
to  the  railroad  discourse,  but  the  latter's  text  could 
never  have  been  made  the  basis  of  the  canal-boat 
sermon.  Averse  as  Dr.  Aiken  was  to  advertising 
sermons,  semi-sensational  ingenuity  was  at  least  em- 
ployed in  the  selection  of  his  text  for  the  Cleveland 
effort.    It  was  Nahum  2:4: 

The  chariots  shall  rage  in  the  streets,  they  shall  jostle  one 
against  another  in  the  broad  ways;  they  shall  seem  like 
torches,  they  shall  run  like  the  lightnings. 

The  prophet  spoke  not  of  modern  railway  systems 
or  automobiles,  but  of  the  machinery  of  war  such  as 
the  chariots  of  the  King  of  Babylon  rushing  against 
Nineveh.  A  brief  outline  of  Dr.  Aiken's  sermon  is 
not  only  interesting,  but  even  now  instructive: 

Roads  are  symbolic  of  civilization.    Egypt,  famous  for 
arts  and  science,  had  her  Thebes  with  one  hundred  gates. 


138  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

all  of  which  must  have  opened  to  as  many  spacious  high- 
ways, leading  to  every  part  of  her  kingdom.  The  Jewish 
commonwealth  constructed  roads  and  gave  special  care 
to  those  leading  to  the  cities  of  refuge.  Three  hundred 
years  before  Christ,  Rome  had  her  Appian  Way,  the  en- 
during nature  of  which  road  still  excites  the  admiration 
of  mankind.  The  old  Saxons,  living  in  castles  upon  inac- 
cessible rocks,  were  comparatively  barbarians,  ever  fear- 
ing for  safety  of  life  and  property.  With  no  methods  of 
transportation  civilization  languished.  Great  has  been 
the  progress  of  invention.  At  the  best  the  stage-coach 
rumbled  slowly  over  public  roads.  Bazaleel  was  raised  of 
God  to  devise  cunning  work  in  gold,  silver  and  brass.  So 
was  it  with  Watt,  who  applied  steam  to  travel.  Twenty 
years  ago  the  first  locomotive  ran  from  Liverpool  to  Man- 
chester, but  now  there  are  many  railroads.  Forty-three 
years  ago  the  first  steamboat  ploughed  the  waters  of  the 
Hudson  River,  and  in  1838  the  first  boat  propelled  by 
steam  crossed  the  Atlantic. 

The  hand  of  God  is  in  all  this.  Some  look  with  gloomy 
eye  upon  the  "iron  horse,"  as  destined  to  subvert  the  laws 
of  God  and  man,  introducing  moral  and  political  anarchy, 
but  we  are  not  to  be  troubled  by  such  spectres.  To  view 
the  railroad  as  a  mere  auxiliary  to  increase  wealth  is  very 
superficial.  That  is  a  consideration  for  the  economist, 
but  there  are  higher  moral  and  social  aspects  of  the  rail- 
road's advent.  It  will  prove  a  barrier  against  frequent 
wars,  by  bringing  nations  together  and  creating  more 
sympathy  for  and  knowledge  of  each  other,  thus  promot- 
ing a  spirit  of  brotherhood. 

Then  there  will  be  a  tendency  to  unite  perfectly  the 
heterogeneous  classes  of  our  immigrants,  to  modify  sec- 
tional jealousies  and  to  diffuse  education  through  travel. 
"Many  shall  run  to  and  fro  and  knowledge  shall  increase." 
The  railroad  will  be  a  leveller,  bringing  the  lowly  nearer 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  139 

to  the  plane  of  the  rich  through  increased  means  of  travel. 
One  benefit  will  be  its  auxiliary  assistance  to  the  cause 
of  temperance,  employes  having  to  be  total  abstainers,  if 
they  are  to  be  trustworthy  and  efficient. 

This  last  point  was  almost  prophetic.  The  consti- 
tutional prohibition  amendment  came  to  triumph 
when  the  principle  of  "safety  first"  was  applied  not 
only  to  railway  employes,  but  also  to  those  of  manu- 
facturing concerns  and  to  the  operators  of  auto- 
mobiles on  public  highways. 

Dr.  Aiken's  climax  was: 

My  friends,  the  stirring  scenes  through  which  we  are  pass- 
ing, the  movements  of  which  we  are  spectators,  and  in 
which  we  are  the  actors,  are  great  to  us,  and  in  connection 
with  the  progress  of  the  race,  and  with  the  destiny  of  our 
country  and  the  world,  they  are  great  in  reality.  But 
another  existence  is  before  us,  other  scenes  are  yet  to 
open,  scenes  of  still  greater  interest,  vastly  different  in 
their  nature,  of  a  higher  order,  spiritual  and  eternal;  and 
we  are  all  approaching  them  in  the  rail-car  of  time,  with 
a  speed  more  rapid  than  lightning,  more  irresistible  than 
chariots  of  fire.  God  grant  that  through  infinite  mercy  in 
Jesus  Christ  we  may  be  faithful  in  our  day  and  genera- 
tion, live  to  some  valuable  purpose,  that  when  we  reach 
the  great  depot  of  our  earthly  existence,  we  may  enter 
into  the  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens. 

With  a  copy  of  this  sermon  in  the  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society  Library,  there  is  a  second  printed 
sermon  delivered  by  Dr.  Aiken.  The  theme  is 
"Amusements,"  not  only  a  burning  problem  then, 
but  also  one  that  has  troubled  Christians  ever  since. 


140  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

While  Dr.  Aiken's  attitude  toward  popular  amuse- 
ments would  now  be  termed  puritanical,  the  dis- 
course was  no  sensational  tirade  against  card-playing, 
theater-going  and  dancing,  but  a  dignified  discussion 
of  the  evil  tendency  of  popular  amusements  upon 
character  from  the  Grecian  and  Roman  periods  to 
his  day. 

During  the  twenty-six  years  that  Dr.  Aiken  was 
pastor  of  the  Stone  Church,  he  encountered  more 
adverse  and  perplexing  forces  than  ordinarily  come 
to  the  Christian  minister.  Various  reforms  were 
bitterly  waged  within  and  without  the  churches. 
The  subjects  of  temperance,  of  abolition,  and  kindred 
issues  incessantly  arrayed  parties  against  one  another 
and  made  it  difficult  for  a  pastor  always  to  act  with 
wisdom  and  prudence.  With  all  the  kindness  and 
discretion  possible  for  ministers  to  employ,  many  were 
unable  to  hold  ground  successfully,  and  more  than 
one  Western  Reserve  church  was  temporarily  rent 
asunder  or  utterly  destroyed  in  the  bitterness  of  re- 
form upheavals. 

In  no  part  of  the  Reserve  was  party  strife  higher 
than  in  Cleveland.  Without  regard  to  the  fear  or 
favor  of  men  Dr.  Aiken  tried  to  pursue  a  course  best 
calculated  to  promote  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  save  his  congregation  from  dis- 
memberment. Many  times  did  he  endure  the  savage 
criticisms  of  the  ultra-abolitionists,  who  insisted  that 
he  devote  his  pulpit  utterances  wholly  to  their  burn- 
ing issue.  Even  Abraham  Lincoln  endured  for  a  long 
time  the  charge  of  having  been  lukewarm  in  the  esti- 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  141 

mation  of  the  ultra-abolitionists.  At  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War  ''John  Brown's  Body"  was  sung  with 
more  zest  by  some  than  "We  are  coming,  Father 
Abraham,"  but  the  patient  waiting  of  the  Emanci- 
pator for  his  opportunity  to  deal  slavery  its  death- 
blow is  now  more  admired  than  the  overt  act  of  John 
Brown  at  Harper's  Ferry.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  such  a  semi-fanatical  course  was  made  the  means 
of  stirring  to  a  high  pitch  the  spirit  of  the  North 
against  the  slave  oligarchy,  it  is  fortunate  that  in  the 
founding  of  churches  on  the  Western  Reserve  every 
pastor  was  not  an  ultra-abolitionist. 

During  those  years,  in  which  the  souls  of  men  were 
sorely  tried,  a  committee  of  Cleveland  Presbytery 
drafted  resolutions  to  be  forwarded  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  1846,  fifteen  years  before  the  Civil  War. 
As  chairman  of  that  committee  Dr.  Aiken  doubtless 
penned  the  following  overture: 

The  subject  of  slavery  is  one  of  deepening  interest  in  our 
churches.  Indeed  we  may  say  that  upon  all  classes  it  is 
taking  a  stronger  hold  than  ever  before.  There  is  less 
excitement,  but  more  thought;  less  talking,  but  a  more 
settled  purpose  to  act;  less  denunciation,  but  a  more 
thorough  conviction  of  the  guilt  and  evil  of  slavery.  We 
will  not  take  the  time  of  the  Assembly  with  remarks  upon 
the  sin  of  slavery,  nor  do  we  think  it  necessary  to  adduce 
proof  of  its  disastrous  effects  upon  all  our  institutions, 
social,  civil  and  religious.  To  us  it  seems  like  treason  to 
our  Master  to  shrink  from  censuring  human  bondage,  and 
oppression,  because  they  are  sanctioned  by  law  and  are 
therefore  "political  institutions."  We  cannot  believe  that 
our  beloved  fathers  and  brethren,  in  their  holy  convoca- 
tion, will  hesitate  to  take  an  elevated  stand,  by  some  wise. 


142  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

decisive  action,  on  the  side  of  heaven  and  oppressed 
humanity.  By  multitudes  both  in  church  and  out  of  it, 
they  are  expected  to  do  it,  and  we  pray  God  that  we 
may  not  be  disappointed. 

Of  Dr.  Aiken's  later  service,  Dr.  Goodrich  said  in 
his  semicentennial  sermon: 

When  in  the  New  School  Assembly  of  1857,  held  at  Cleve- 
land in  the  Stone  Church,  the  hour  came  when  the  rem- 
nant of  pro-slavery  element  was  to  be  sloughed  off,  the 
brief,  incisive  words  of  the  venerable  pastor  of  this  church 
broke  the  web  of  tedious  debate  and  led  the  way  to  a  high 
decision  for  Christian  liberty. 

It  was  at  that  General  Assembly  that  twenty  southern 
commissioners  left  the  body  as  a  protest  against  the 
action. 

Another  source  of  trial  and  embarrassment  on  the 
Western  Reserve,  during  the  long  pastorate  of  Dr. 
Aiken,  were  the  recurrent  religious  delusions.  In 
reference  to  his  experience,  he  left  this  testimony: 

There  was  a  time  when  the  idea  of  Christian  Perfection- 
ism in  this  region  became  so  prevalent  as  almost  to  resolve 
all  religion  into  the  belief  of  it.  This  was  followed  by  a 
species  of  fanaticism  most  extraordinary,  widespread  and 
desolating,  and  though  the  mass  of  this  congregation 
stood  firm,  its  influence  was  very  perceptible  in  counter- 
acting the  plain  truths  of  the  gospel.  The  effects  of  Miller- 
ism  are  still  visible  in  the  spirit  of  skepticism  and  infidelity 
engendered  by  it,  and  will  long  remain  a  sad  memento  of 
the  danger  of  forsaking  the  truth  to  follow  misguided 
and  bewildered  mortals. 

The  Cleveland  Presbytery  in  1841  appointed  a 
committee  consisting  of  the  Reverend  Sherman  B. 
Canfield,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  143 

Church;  the  Reverend  Samuel  C.  Aiken,  D.D.,  and 
the  Reverend  H.  Blodget,  to  prepare  "An  Exposition 
of  the  Peculiarities,  Difficulties  and  Tendencies  of 
Oberlin  Perfectionism,"  a  very  elaborate  theological 
document,  a  copy  of  which  is  preserved  in  the  West- 
ern Reserve  Historical  Society  Library. 

What  "Millerism"  was  against  which  Dr.  Aiken 
had  to  contend  can  be  better  understood  by  a  brief 
account  of  its  exhibition  in  Cleveland.  William 
Miller  was  born  in  Massachusetts  in  1781.  He  had 
only  a  common  school  education,  but  was  a  man  of 
strong  native  talent.  At  first  he  had  been  turned 
away  from  the  fervor  of  prevailing  revival  meetings 
to  skeptical  teachings,  but  he  soon  returned  to  the 
Baptist  faith.  In  1803  a  remarkable  shower  of  meteors 
was  interpreted  by  many  to  signify  the  approaching 
end  of  the  world.  Miller  turned  from  farming  to  the 
study  of  the  books  of  Daniel  and  Revelation^  and  in 
1831  he  began  to  expound  the  theory  that  the  end 
would  come  between  March  21,  1843  and  March  21, 
1844.  This  was  given  additional  emphasis  by  the 
great  meteoric  showers  of  November  12  and  13,  1833. 

Licensed  to  preach.  Miller  traveled  over  the  coun- 
try, everywhere  addressing  great  audiences.  After 
protracted  calculations  he  announced  that  April  12, 
1843,  would  be  the  exact  date  of  the  "Second  Com- 
ing." Fifty  or  more  people  in  Cleveland  had  accepted 
the  doctrine  and  had  secured  an  eloquent  New 
England  minister,  the  Reverend  Charles  Fitch,  who 
came  to  Cleveland  in  1840  and  began  to  preach  with 
great  success.    He  became  pastor  of  the  "Church  of 


144  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  Second  Advent,"  which  first  worshiped  in  the 
wooden  building  just  west  of  the  Stone  Church,  and 
afterwards  in  the  famous  "Round  Church"  con- 
structed on  Wood  Street,  now  East  Third  Street, 
between  Rockwell  and  St.  Clair  Avenues.  This  unique 
edifice  was  of  brick  like  a  truncated  cone,  thirty  feet 
in  diameter  at  the  base  and  fifty  feet  high.  A  convex 
roof  of  glass  windows  swung  on  hinges,  ready  to  be 
opened  outward  at  any  time  for  the  ascension  of 
the  members.  There  were  two  front  doors  on  Wood 
Street,  but  no  side  windows.  The  only  light  the 
Round  Church  worshipers  wanted  was  that  which 
came  straight  down  from  heaven.  The  order  of 
worship  was  that  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Congre- 
gational churches,  with  the  exception  of  the  "Second 
Coming"  doctrine.  As  the  predicted  date  for  the  end 
of  the  world  approached  the  excitement  increased. 
When  April  12,  1843,  arrived  the  members  of  the 
Round  Church  arrayed  themselves  in  white  robes, 
worshiped  all  day,  and  looked  for  the  hour  of  mid- 
night to  verify  their  cherished  doctrine,  but  "the 
wreck  of  matter  and  crash  of  worlds"  did  not 
materialize,  and  after  the  benediction  had  been  pro- 
nounced the  members  of  the  white-robed  congrega- 
tion dispersed  to  their  homes.  The  Reverend  Mr. 
Fitch  died  the  following  year  and  his  flock  was  scat- 
tered, yet  many  retained  their  belief  attributing  the 
delay  to  miscalculation  of  the  time,  but  thousands 
throughout  the  country  having  based  their  whole 
religious  hope  upon  this  one  article  of  faith  aban- 
doned all  churches  and  lapsed  into  unbelief. 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  145 

The  pastor  of  the  Round  Church  was  also  editor 
and  pubHsher  of  a  monthly  paper,  entitled  The 
Second  Advent  of  Christ.  Along  with  chronological 
charts  and  pictures  of  beasts  explanatory  of  the 
mooted  prophecies,  was  the  statement: 

We  expect  the  Lord  every  day.  Whether  He  will  permit 
us  to  commence  another  volume  of  twelve  numbers  we 
know  not.  Or  if  He  permits  us  to  commence  it  is  far  more 
doubtful  whether  His  coming  will  be  delayed  long  enough 
to  complete  the  volume. 

Such  a  notice  could  not  have  been  very  encouraging 
to  subscribers,  as  there  was  no  promise  of  rebate  in 
case  the  paper  did  not  continue  for  a  year. 

Reference  is  often  made  to  current  religious  fads 
of  irrational  character,  and  the  question  is  asked  why 
so  many  educated  people  can  entertain  them.  Let 
no  one  think  that  those  who  were  carried  away  with 
Millerism  and  other  religion^  vagaries  were  only  the 
simple-minded  or  ignorant.  In  the  colleges  of  that 
period  there  were  those  who  fostered,  rather  than 
allayed,  the  reigning  disorders,  while  many  edu- 
cated people  were  the  leaders. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  Oberlin  Perfectionism 
and  Adventism.  Western  Reserve  College  escaped 
those  extremes,  but  President  Carroll  Cutler,  in  his 
history  of  that  institution,  had  the  following  to  state 
regarding  the  students  of  1835,  the  year  that  Dr. 
Aiken  came  to  Cleveland: 

They  formed  a  Magdalen  Society,  in  defence  of  the 
seventh  commandment,  in  sympathy  with  a  Mr.  Mc- 
Dowell in  New  York.  One  student  prepared  and  published 


146  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

tracts  for  circulation,  and  young  men  went  abroad  lectur- 
ing on  the  subject.  They  seemed  to  feel  the  moral  burden 
of  the  whole  world  resting  on  their  shoulders,  and  they 
were  determined  to  discharge  manfully  their  responsi- 
bilities. We  cannot  but  admire  their  devotion  to  duty, 
as  they  understood  it,  but  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  present- 
day  college  students  going  around  the  country  lecturing 
on  the  moral  agitations  of  earlier  years,  however  much 
they  might  debate  any  and  all  subjects  of  present  interest 
in  college  classes  and  societies. 

Evident  it  is  to  one  studying  the  long  pastorate  of 
Dr.  Aiken  in  such  formative  years,  permeated  as  they 
were  with  various  abnormal  political  and  religious 
agitations,  that  it  was  due  largely  to  his  practical 
wisdom,  his  weight  of  character,  as  well  as  to  his 
unselfish  devotion  to  the  service  of  Christ,  that  the 
Stone  Church  escaped  the  disorders  that  rent  dis- 
astrously so  many  other  Christian  bodies,  and  held 
steadily  its  course  with  growing  strength  and  unity. 
As  the  pastor  of  the  largest  church  in  the  Cleveland 
Presbytery,  Dr.  Aiken  would  have  been  accorded  by 
his  brethren  leadership,  but  that  also  would  have 
been  proffered  by  his  colleagues,  by  reason  of  his 
remarkable  fitness  for  the  wise  guidance  of  Presby- 
tery, during  the  period  of  sore  disruption  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Cleveland  Presbytery  in  1836  petitioned  the 
Western  Reserve  Synod  to  form  three  Presbyteries, 
namely  those  of  Cleveland,  Medina,  and  Elyria,  out 
of  the  one  then  existing,  the  new  bodies  to  be  bounded 
by  the  counties  in  which  their  churches  were  located. 
Thus  for  a  number  of  years  the  churches  of  the  Cleve- 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  147 

land  Presbytery  were  confined  to  Cuyahoga  County. 
The  General  Assembly  of  1837,  meeting  in  Phila- 
delphia, exscinded  the  Synods  of  Western  Reserve, 
Utica,  Genesee,  and  Geneva,  and  forced  them  to  form 
the  New  School  Presbyterian  Church. 

Thus  two  years  after  Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate  began 
in  the  Stone  Church,  there  came  the  pressing  need 
of  wise  leadership  in  the  guidance  of  the  New  School 
Church.  The  first  "convention"  called  to  deal  with 
the  critical  situation  was  held  at  Auburn,  N.  Y., 
August  17,  1837,  the  year  of  the  disruption.  The 
Cleveland  Presbytery  sent  three  ministers  and  one 
elder  to  this  important  conference.  Dr.  Aiken  headed 
the  delegation,  and  with  him  was  the  Reverend  John 
Keep,  a  former  supply  of  the  Stone  Church.  Later 
Dr.  Aiken  led  delegations  to  similar  conventions  at 
Detroit  and  Cincinnati.  In  all  ecclesiastical  courts 
he  was  the  same  practical  adviser  that  he  was  in  his 
Cleveland  parish. 

In  1858,  when  he  had  been  sole  pastor  of  the  Stone 
Church  for  twenty-three  years,  and  was  in  the  forty- 
third  year  of  his  ministry  and  in  the  sixty-seventh 
year  of  his  age.  Dr.  Aiken's  health  became  impaired 
to  such  an  extent  that  he  suggested  the  securing  of 
an  assistant.  On  August  12,  1858,  the  Reverend 
William  H.  Goodrich,  D.D.,  was  called  and  installed 
associate  pastor. 

At  the  time  Dr.  Aiken  informed  the  younger 
associate  that  within  two  or  three  years  he  would 
retire  from  active  service.  This  the  senior  pastor  did 
during  April   of  1861,  when   he  was   made   pastor 


148  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

emeritus  at  an  annual  stipend  of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  was  lovingly  continued  by  the  congrega- 
tion for  eighteen  years,  or  to  the  end  of  his  earthly 
pilgrimage.  He  outlived  his  younger  associate  pastor 
over  four  years,  and  was  present  at  the  funeral  of 
Dr.  Goodrich,  but  was  unable  by  reason  of  infirmities 
to  participate.  One  of  his  last  public  appearances 
was  at  the  installation  of  the  Reverend  Hiram  C. 
Haydn,  D.D.,  as  associate  pastor  with  the  Reverend 
William  H.  Goodrich,  D.D. 

In  the  semicentennial  sermon  delivered  by  Dr. 
Goodrich  in  1870,  mention  was  made  of  the  five  re- 
vivals which  had  visited  the  Stone  Church  during  the 
pastorate  of  Dr.  Aiken,  two  of  which  were  of  unusual 
influence.  Emphasis  was  placed  upon  the  fact  that 
three  churches  organized  during  that  period  had  re- 
ceived almost  every  charter  member  from  the  Stone 
Church.  During  Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate,  according  to 
Dr.  Goodrich,  eight  hundred  eighty  persons  had  been 
received  into  the  church. 

Dr.  Aiken  was  first  married  in  1818  to  Miss  Delia 
Day,  of  Catskill,  N.  Y.  She  died  in  1838,  and  the 
following  year  he  married  Miss  Henrietta  Day,  a 
sister  of  his  former  companion  in  life.  She  was  a 
woman  of  great  force  of  character.  Of  the  nine  chil- 
dren born  of  these  unions  only  a  son  and  daughter, 
Mr.  Charles  G.  Aiken  and  Mrs.  Helen  Day,  survived 
their  father.  Six  died  in  infancy,  and  a  son  was  sup- 
posed to  have  been  drowned  at  sea. 

After  the  death  of  Mrs.  Aiken  in  1864,  the  aged 
father  made  his  home  with  the  son  on  Woodland 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  149 

Avenue,  and  at  Tallmadge,  Ohio.  In  an  earlier 
address  Dr.  Aiken,  in  speaking  of  the  strenuous  ex- 
periences endured  in  his  two  pastorates,  said, 

A  minister  cannot  preach  to  please  himself.  He  cannot 
preach  to  please  his  people.  He  must  be  like  a  rock  in  the 
ocean.    He  must  preach  the  truth  and  let  the  waves  dash. 

True,  but  even  the  rocks  in  the  sea  are  finally 
worn  away,  not  only  by  the  furious  dashings  of  the 
storm-tossed  floods,  but  also  by  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
the  more  gentle  tides.  So  was  it  in  the  case  of  this 
rock-like  servant  of  God.  The  body  became  broken 
and  the  mental  powers  sadly  weakened.  Things 
present  made  but  little  impression,  but  of  earlier 
years  he  was  wont  to  speak  more  clearly;  while  at  the 
mention  of  his  Saviour's  name,  the  aged  countenance 
always  brightened. 

In  his  memorial  address  Dr.  Haydn  gave  this  keen 
portrayal  of  Dr.  Aiken's  last  days: 

His  stately  form,  bowed  and  shrunken  with  age;  and 
worse  yet,  his  clear  and  powerful  mind  losing  not  only 
its  fire  and  energy,  but  also  its  hold  on  the  living  present; 
withdrawing  from  the  recognition  of  his  best  friends  into 
memories,  broken  and  fading,  of  his  early  life.  Since  then 
he  has  been  like  a  bough  half-broken  from  the  branch, 
drawing  just  enough  vitality  from  it  to  continue  life,  but 
not  enough  for  any  useful  purpose. 

In  such  a  condition,  in  the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his 
age,  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  January  1, 
1879,  the  peaceful  end  came.  The  bell  of  the  church 
that  he  had  so  dearly  loved,  and  to  which  he  had 
given  so  much  self-sacrificing  toil,  had  joined  with 


150  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  chimes  of  Old  Trinity  and  of  neighboring 
churches,  in  responding  to  Tennyson's  exhortation: 

Ring  out,  wild  bells,  to  the  wild  sky, 
The  flying  cloud,  the  frosty  light; 
The  year  is  dying  in  the  night: 
Ring  out,  wild  bells,  and  let  him  die. 

Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new, 
Ring,  happy  bells,  across  the  snow: 
The  year  is  dying,  let  him  go; 

Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  true. 

As  the  requiem  of  the  Old  was  being  tolled  and  the 
birth  of  the  New  Year  joyously  welcomed,  the  spirit 
winged  its  flight  from  the  worn  tabernacle  of  flesh 
into  the  ''house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens." 

Having  died  Wednesday  morning  the  funeral 
services  would  naturally  have  been  held  the  follow- 
ing Friday  afternoon,  but  a  severe  snowstorm  had 
swept  the  country  and  Dr.  Aiken's  daughter,  who 
was  in  Connecticut,  was  unable,  on  account  of  the 
snow-bound  condition  of  the  railroads,  to  reach  Cleve- 
land until  a  week  after  the  death  of  her  father.  The 
funeral  was,  therefore,  postponed,  and  on  Thursday 
morning,  January  9,  1879,  at  eleven  o'clock,  the 
services  were  held  in  the  Stone  Church. 

The  Sunday  following  the  death  of  his  aged  pred- 
ecessor. Dr.  Haydn  preached  a  memorial  discourse, 
and  later  at  the  funeral  service  he  used  the  text 
Psalm  97  : 2: 

Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him:  righteousness 
and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  his  throne. 


SAMUEL  CLARK  AIKEN  151 

Associated  with  Dr.  Haydn  in  the  funeral  service 
were  the  Reverend  Charles  S.  Pomeroy,  D.D.,  of  the 
Second  Church;  the  Reverend  J.  Lovejoy  Robertson, 
of  the  Euclid  Avenue  Church;  the  Reverend  Francis 
A.  Horton,  of  the  Case  Avenue  Church;  the  Reverend 
H.  R.  Hoisington,  of  the  North  Church,  and  the 
Reverend  S.  L.  Blake,  of  the  Woodland  Avenue 
Church. 

Although  retired  from  active  service  for  eighteen 
years,  this  servant  of  God  had  not  been  forgotten  by 
the  city.  The  daily  papers  printed  many  articles, 
including  Dr.  Haydn's  sermon  in  full;  while  the 
Cleveland  Leader  editorially  extolled  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  the  minister  who  had  not  in  his  retirement 
been  forgotten. 

The  pall-bearers  were  Messrs.  Amasa  Stone,  George 
Mygatt,  Samuel  Williamson,  John  Proudfoot,  James 
F.  Clark,  Sherlock  J.  Andrews,  the  Honorable  John 
A.  Foot,  and  Dr.  H.  Kirke  Cushing.  The  interment 
was  at  Erie  Street  Cemetery. 

At  the  close  of  Dr.  Aiken's  twenty-fifth  anniver- 
sary sermon  in  1860  the  choir  sang  a  hymn,  the  com- 
position of  which  was  attributed  to  Dr.  Goodrich. 
The  lines  express  the  love  and  honor  in  which  this 
servant  of  Christ  was  held,  and  form  a  fitting  close 
to  the  historical  sketch  of  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev- 
erend Samuel  Clark  Aiken,  D.D.,  in  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Cleveland: 

Thanks  be  to  God,  the  living  God, 

That  through  these  bright,  unbroken  years, 

Before  us  one  loved  form  hath  trod, 
Our  faithful  guide  in  hopes  and  fears. 


152  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Thanks  for  the  strength  bestowed  from  heaven, 
The  wisdom  granted  from  above; 

The  faith,  the  zeal,  the  utterance  given, 
The  guileless  life,  the  unwearied  love. 

Thanks  for  the  fruit  here  garnered  in. 

For  wandering  souls  brought  back  to  God, 

For  saints  cheered  on,  their  crown  to  win, 
Or  comforted  beneath  the  rod. 

Thanks,  that  beneath  his  fostering  hand. 
New  churches  have  gone  forth  to  rear 

Fresh  altars  where  thy  servants  stand, 
And  full  assemblies  wait  to  hear. 

Still  with  thy  servant.  Lord,  abide, 
Gently  sustain  these  waning  years; 

Let  it  be, "Light  at  eventide," 

Scatter  the  shadows,  wipe  the  tears. 

Follow  the  labor  he  hath  done. 

With  blessings  that  shall  never  cease; 

His  was  the  toil,  the  hope,  the  crown, 
Thine  only  is  the  sure  increase. 


VI.    PASTORATE    OF    THE    REVEREND 
WILLIAM   HENRY   GOODRICH 

1858-1874 

Seventy-five  years  ago  the  Reverend  Horace  Bush- 
nell,  D.D.,  the  noted  New  England  divine,  published 
his  Christian  Nurture^  a  book  that  gave  ofi^ence  to 
those  who  placed  undue  stress  upon  the  evangehsm 
of  their  times,  as  almost  the  sole  means  of  prop- 
agating the  gospel.  The  value  of  revivals  Dr.  Bush- 
nell  did  not  deny,  but  he  did  contend  for  a  greater 
recognition  of  religious  culture  in  the  family,  whereby 
one  generation  of  Christians  naturally  produces  a 
larger  and  better  generation  of  believers.  After  many 
years  Bushnell's  Christian  Nurture  has  received 
merited  recognition,  for  it  has  been  reprinted  as  a 
valuable  textbook  by  the  Religious  Education  Asso- 
ciation. 

When  St.  Paul  wrote  to  Timothy,  **I  call  to  remem- 
brance the  unfeigned  faith  that  is  in  thee,  which  dwelt 
first  in  thy  grandmother  Lois  and  thy  mother 
Eunice,"  he  paid  tribute  to  the  power  and  beauty  of 
religious  heredity. 

This  law  of  Christian  nurture  was  signally  illus- 
trated in  the  case  of  the  Reverend  William  Henry 
Goodrich,  who  was  born  January  19,  1823,  in  the 
classic  city  of  New  Haven,  Conn.  His  father,  the 
Reverend  Chauncey  A.  Goodrich,  was  for  forty  years 


154  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

professor  of  rhetoric  and  oratory  in  Yale  College, 
where  the  interests  of  Christ's  kingdom  formed  the 
chief  thought  and  care  of  this  honored  instructor,  who 
wielded  for  four  decades  such  a  formative  power  over 
the  ever-changing  body  of  students.  How  enriching 
must  have  been  his  influence  over  his  own  household, 
and  what  satisfaction  came  to  this  inspirer  of  many 
pupils  to  choose  the  ministry,  when  his  youngest  son 
gave  himself  to  that  calling.  The  father,  moreover, 
was  not  the  only  source  of  hereditary  talent,  for  the 
son's  paternal  grandfather  was  the  Honorable  Elizur 
Goodrich,  a  lawyer  of  eminence  and  at  one  time  pro- 
fessor of  law  at  Yale  College;  and  his  great-grand- 
father was  the  Reverend  Elizur  Goodrich,  D.D.,  an 
astronomer  of  ability,  as  well  as  an  eminent  clergy- 
man and  educator.  Upon  his  mother's  side  Dr.  Wil- 
liam H.  Goodrich  also  had  the  natural  advantage  of 
a  noble  ancestry,  she  having  been  the  daughter  of 
Noah  Webster,  the  noted  compiler  of  the  dictionary 
that  bears  his  name. 

The  boyhood  of  the  second  pastor  of  the  Stone 
Church  was  spent  under  the  lofty  elms  of  Temple 
Street,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  near  his  grandfather 
Webster's  home,  redolent  with  the  lore  to  which  his 
days  were  given,  and  in  proximity  to  the  homes  of 
the  Days,  the  Sillimans,  the  Hillhouses,  the  Whitneys, 
and  Bacons,  and  of  many  others  who  made  the  New 
Haven  of  their  times  unsurpassed  in  this  country,  as 
the  seat  of  scholarly  grace  and  of  social  refinement. 
Nursed  in  the  lap  of  culture,  in  a  family  circle  made 
beautiful  by  a  mother's  consecrated  spirit,  and  in  a 


William   H.  Goodricfi 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  157 

home  across  whose  threshold  the  most  eminent 
people  of  the  period  were  wont  to  pass,  the  youth  of 
Dr.  Goodrich  was  spent. 

At  New  Haven  he  began  and  completed  his  educa- 
tion, passing  through  both  collegiate  and  theological 
courses  of  study,  after  which  he  became  a  Yale  tutor. 
All  of  this  hereditary  power,  however,  did  not  relieve 
the  favored  youth  from  the  exercise  of  persevering 
industry  which  characterized  his  ministry. 

He  became  in  1850  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Bristol,  Conn.,  after  having  traveled 
several  months  in  Europe.  To  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  he  was  then  called, 
and  there  he  labored  until  in  July  of  1858  he  was 
called  to  his  last  pastorate  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Cleveland,  where  he  was  installed  August 
12,  1858. 

According  to  the  minutes  of  Presbytery,  the  follow- 
ing was  the  order  of  installation: 

Reading  of  Scripture,  Rev.  Frederick  T.  Brown,  pastor 
of  the  [Old  School]  Westminster  Presbyterian  Church; 
sermon  by  Rev.  Henry  Kendall,  D.D.,  of  the  Pittsburgh 
Presbytery,  for  many  years  thereafter  the  noted  Secre- 
tary of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions;  constitutional  ques- 
tions by  the  moderator,  Rev.  John  B.  Allen;  installation 
prayer,  Rev.  J.  H.  Bittinger,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Euclid 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church;  charge  to  the  pastor.  Rev. 
James  Eells,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church;  right  hand  of  fellowship,  Rev.  Samuel  C.  Aiken, 
D.D.;  charge  to  the  people,  Rev.  James  Shaw,  D.D., 
pastor  of  the  Newburgh  Presbyterian  Church. 

At  the  commencement  of  this  associate  pastorate,  the 


158  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

church    roll    contained    three    hundred    thirty-two 
members. 

One  of  the  historical  sketches  issued  in  1896,  Cleve- 
land's centennial  year,  divided  the  century  of  civic 
life  into  four  periods:  that  of  "settling,"  from  1796 
to  1821;  that  of  "establishing,"  from  1821  to  1846; 
that  of  "improving,"  from  1846  to  1871,  and  that  of 
"enlarging,"  from  1871  to  1896.  According  to  such 
divisions  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Goodrich  extended 
through  the  latter  half  of  the  period  of  "improving." 
During  the  period,  then,  in  which  Cleveland  was 
steadily  gaining  higher  qualities  of  civic  life,  a  clergy- 
man possessing  the  spirituality,  culture,  and  business 
ability  of  Dr.  Goodrich,  occupying  a  pulpit  in  the 
heart  of  the  city,  certainly  radiated  an  uplifting 
influence. 

A  sketch  of  some  of  the  civic  betterments  at  the 
beginning  of  Dr.  Goodrich's  pastorate  in  1858  may 
give  proper  setting  to  the  religious  and  social  influence 
of  this  Stone  Church  pastor.  In  1858  there  was  not 
a  paved  street  in  Cleveland.  Several  times  cholera 
and  fevers,  due  mainly  to  a  lack  of  sanitary  sewering 
and  pure  water  supply,  had  scourged  the  community. 
The  West  Side  reservoir,  under  construction,  gave 
promise  of  displacing  with  purer  lake  water  the 
questionable  cistern  and  well  supply. 

About  1860  venturesome  capitalists,  believing  that 
the  omnibus  had  seen  its  best  days,  proposed  horse- 
cars,  but  no  one  envied  the  dreamers  or  tried  to  pre- 
vent track  laying,  for  there  were  no  pavements  to 
be  disturbed,  and  popular  skepticism  was  widespread 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  159 

regarding  the  number  of  fares  that  could  be  secured 
from  people  residing  within  one  or  two  miles  of  the 
Public  Square.  Two  simple  laws  were  enacted  to 
regulate  the  novel  street-railway  system  for  the  pro- 
tection of  both  pedestrians  and  passengers.  One  ordi- 
nance compelled  all  horses  and  mules  for  motive 
power  to  walk  around  the  track  curves;  while  the 
second  forbade  cars  going  in  the  same  direction 
approaching  nearer  than  three  hundred  feet  to  one 
another. 

A  contractor  named  Southworth  established  a 
grocery  in  1858,  and  astonished  competitors  by 
making  wheelbarrow  delivery  of  purchases.  Cleve- 
land was  credited  in  1850  with  a  population  of  seven- 
teen thousand  thirty-four;  while  the  sister  city  across 
the  river  had  three  thousand  nine  hundred  fifty 
inhabitants,  so  that  in  1855,  a  year  after  annexation, 
there  was  a  total  population  of  forty-three  thousand. 
Leonard  Case,  Sr.,  sold  his  residence  in  1856  for 
thirty  thousand  dollars  to  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment to  become  the  site  of  the  stone  post  office, 
which  was  later  supplanted  by  the  present  federal 
building. 

About  the  same  time  the  four  sections  of  the  Public 
Square  were  fenced  into  an  unbroken  park.  The 
closing  of  the  intersecting  streets  was  bitterly  op- 
posed, but  the  heart  of  the  city  became  a  beauty 
spot,  in  whose  towering  trees  a  few  bird-houses  after- 
wards domiciled  the  few  pair  of  "English  sparrows," 
whose  progeny  has  since  defied  all  foes.  After  the 
dedication  of  Perry's  Monument  the  enclosed  Public 


160  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Square  bore  the  name  of  ''Monumental  Park."  It 
was  not  until  1867,  when  Leonard  Case  and  Henry  B. 
Payne  threatened  the  city  with  a  lawsuit,  that  the 
surrounding  fence  was  removed,  and  the  "Great 
Central  Park"  [another  name],  again  intersected  by 
Superior  and  Ontario  Streets. 

The  year  that  Dr.  Goodrich  came  to  Cleveland  the 
city  became  hilarious  over  the  completion  of  the 
Atlantic  Cable,  but  after  a  message  had  been  sent 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  the  Queen 
of  England,  the  cable  ceased  to  work  and  enthusiasm 
waned. 

Cleveland  became  the  center  of  national  interest 
in  1860,  on  account  of  the  unveiling  of  Perry's  Monu- 
ment. From  all  parts  of  the  land  came  a  multitude 
of  visitors,  said  to  have  been  unsurpassed  in  num- 
bers, from  that  time  until  the  Garfield  funeral  in 
1881.  September  10,  1860,  the  anniversary  of  the 
naval  battle,  was  the  day  selected  for  the  unveiling 
ceremony.  This  dedication  deeply  stirred  the  patri- 
otic feeling  of  the  city  on  the  verge  of  the  Civil  War. 
There  were  seventeen  survivors  of  the  Battle  of  Lake 
Erie,  living  forty-eight  years  after  the  bloody  con- 
flict. Governor  Sprague,  of  Rhode  Island,  Commo- 
dore Perry's  native  state,  attended  with  an  official 
retinue.  The  American  historian,  George  Bancroft, 
and  Dr.  Usher  Parsons,  surgeon  of  Perry's  fleet,  were 
the  orators  of  the  day,  while  the  famous  Ossian  E. 
Dodge  sang.  At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  sham 
battle  raged  on  Lake  Erie,  the  only  casualty  having 
been  the  drowning  of  a  spectator  who  accidentally 


The  Chlrch  oi-   1858-1884 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  163 

fell  from  the  pier  into  the  water.  Many  members  of 
the  Masonic  Order  took  part  in  the  ceremonies,  Com- 
modore Perry  having  belonged  to  that  fraternity. 

The  Sault  Ste.  Marie  ship-canal,  completed  in  1855, 
opened  to  commerce  one  thousand  additional  miles 
of  waterway,  and  gave  an  impetus  to  local  ship- 
building. It  also  brought  to  Cleveland  the  wonderful 
advantage,  ever  since  retained,  of  the  coal  and  iron 
industries. 

About  the  beginning  of  Dr.  Goodrich's  pastorate 
the  Jones  Brothers  started  the  Newburgh  Rolling 
Mills,  and  during  that  pastorate  fourteen  iron  and 
steel  mills  developed  in  Cleveland.  In  1868  the 
Cleveland  Rolling  Mill  Company,  then  owned  by  the 
Chisholm  family,  made  Bessemer  steel,  when  only 
two  similar  plants  existed  in  the  United  States. 

The  formation  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company 
brought  to  Cleveland  one-third  of  the  oil  produced. 
The  first  iron  steamer  ploughed  the  waters  of  Lake 
Erie  in  1867,  and  for  fourteen  years  the  "J-  K.  White" 
had  no  companion  craft.  The  development  of  the 
telegraph  system  gave  to  Cleveland  national  distinc- 
tion. The  wires  of  the  Overland  Telegraph  Company, 
of  which  the  late  J.  H.  Wade  was  president,  reached 
Salt  Lake  City  in  1861,  and  from  that  place  Brigham 
Young  wired  his  congratulations.  A  week  later  the 
first  message  came  from  San  Francisco.  The  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company,  with  J.  H.  Wade  as 
president,  was  formed  in  Cleveland,  July  26,  1866, 
and  the  Government  soon  placed  General  Stager  at 


164  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  Head  of  the  National  Union  Telegraph  Company, 
both  systems  having  their  headquarters  in  Cleveland. 

The  year  1867  brought  the  first  serious  labor 
troubles,  precipitated  by  the  attempt  to  readjust 
values  inflated  by  the  Civil  War.  The  resumption  of 
specie  payment  cut  wages,  when  the  scarcity  of 
laborers  had  been  relieved  by  soldiers  returning  to 
their  occupations.  Strikes  followed,  and  Cleveland 
became  the  headquarters  of  the  principal  inter- 
national labor  unions. 

That  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Goodrich  was  in  a  period 
of  peculiar  internal  improvements  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
reorganization  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, which  having  started  in  1854  had  been  dis- 
rupted by  the  war;  in  the  turning  of  the  Cleveland 
Library  Association  of  1848  into  the  endowed  Case 
Library;  in  the  formation  of  the  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society,  and  in  the  completion  of  the  Union 
Passenger  Station,  at  the  time  the  finest  structure  of 
its  kind  in  the  country,  but  now  sadly  dismantled. 

Dr.  Aiken  had  assured  his  younger  associate,  and 
that  entirely  of  his  own  volition,  that  by  reason  of 
increasing  inability  to  serve  actively  he  would  retire 
within  three  years,  and  thus  leave  the  younger 
minister  in  sole  charge.  In  his  tenth  anniversary 
sermon  Dr.  Goodrich  said: 

To  me  belonged  especially  the  ministry  of  the  Word; 
while  Dr.  Aiken  still  cared  for  the  pastoral  service,  but 
gradually  that  care  grew  upon  me. 

In  her  paper  read  at  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  165 

celebration  in  1895,  Mrs.  H.  K.  Gushing  thus  de- 
scribed the  beginning  of  the  associate  pastorate: 
Dr.  Goodrich  came  to  us  nominally  as  our  assistant 
pastor,  but  he  virtually  assumed  control  of  church  affairs, 
and  never  did  a  finer  or  nobler  nature  adjust  itself  to  the 
peculiar  circumstances.  With  tender  reverence  he  honored 
the  dear  old  man  who  still  held  his  seat  in  the  pulpit 
chair;  while  he  took  up  the  work  of  the  pastorate,  not  as 
though  he  had  assumed  a  charge,  but  rather  carried  out 
and  fulfilled  what  another  had  begun.  With  his  advent 
came  a  new  impetus  to  our  work. 

True  to  his  promise  Dr.  Aiken  retired  March  13, 
1861,  to  become  pastor  emeritus,  and  Dr.  Goodrich 
remained  active  pastor.  It  was  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Civil  War,  a  conflict  destined  to  try  the  souls  of 
all  men.  On  Friday,  February  15,  1861,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  president-elect  of  the  United  States,  visited 
Cleveland  on  his  way  to  Washington.  He  had  come 
from  Pittsburgh  in  the  afternoon,  and  was  escorted 
from  Euclid  Avenue  Station  to  the  Weddell  House  by 
city  officials,  by  various  military  organizations,  and 
by  a  body  of  workmen  from  shops  and  furnaces. 

The  address  of  welcome  was  delivered  from  the 
Weddell  House  balcony,  by  Judge  Sherlock  J.  An- 
drews, a  trustee  of  the  Stone  Church,  and  then  Lin- 
coln addressed  the  assembled  throng.  It  was  a  day 
of  rain  and  mud,  but  the  largest  crowd  that  greeted 
him  en  route  to  his  inaugural  and  ultimate  martyrdom 
was  that  in  Cleveland.  A  few  words  from  Lincoln's 
address  show  the  great  statesman  in  his  spirit  of  true 
humility,  coupled  with  a  characteristic  vein  of  humor: 

Your  numbers  testifv  that  vou  are  in  earnest  about  some- 


166  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

thing.  Do  you  desire  that  I  should  think  this  extreme 
earnestness  is  about  me?  I  should  be  exceedingly  sorry 
to  see  such  devotion,  if  that  is  the  case.  But  I  know  that 
it  is  something  worth  more  than  any  one  man,  a  devotion 
to  the  Constitution;  to  the  Union  and  law;  to  the  per- 
petual liberty  of  the  people  of  the  country. 

Then  he  added: 

We  differ  in  opinions  somewhat.  Some  of  you  did  not 
vote  for  him  who  now  addresses  you.  Although  quite  a 
sufficient  number  of  you  did  vote  for  all  practical  purposes. 

This  sally  brought  forth  cheers  and  laughter.  A  pub- 
lic reception  was  held  in  the  Weddell  House  during 
the  evening. 

Soon  after  the  inaugural  at  Washington  ominous 
headlines  appeared  in  the  daily  papers,  but  the  North 
was  wholly  unconscious  of  the  impending  baptism  of 
fire.  After  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter  Dr. 
Goodrich  preached  on  April  21,  1861,  upon  "The 
Christian  Necessity  of  War,"  a  sermon  printed  in  full 
in  the  local  papers,  and  afterwards  issued  in  pam- 
phlet form.  There  was  no  uncertain  sound  at  the 
time  of  national  crisis  in  these  words  of  the  Stone 
Church  pastor: 

We  have  believed  that  in  civilized  nations  the  law  of 
progress  would  call  for  no  conflict  but  that  of  free  dis- 
cussion; but  how  it  would  be  in  a  nation,  where  side  by 
side  with  every  liberty  that  is  precious  to  man,  has  stood 
and  grown  mightier  every  day  a  system  whose  perpetuity 
requires  that  those  liberties  should  be  restricted  and  de- 
nied; this  we  had  not  taken  into  account.  And  now  the 
question  has  come  squarely  upon  us,  whether  we  will 
relinquish  these  hard-earned  liberties,  or  whether  we  will 
hold  them  in  battle  and  cement  them,  if  need  be,  with 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  167 

blood.  We  cannot  fight  the  battles  of  our  country  against 
treason,  without  at  the  same  time  fighting  a  battle  of 
freedom  for  mankind.  We  have  a  great  task  on  hand.  We 
are  to  prove  in  the  face  of  all  nations,  that  a  popular 
government  is  strong  enough  to  punish  treason.  God 
will  never  suflPer,  in  this  age,  a  government  based  on  the 
doctrine  of  liberty  to  the  strong  and  servitude  to  the 
weak. 

Dr.  Goodrich's  words:  "We  cannot  fight  the  battles 
of  our  country  against  treason,  without  at  the  same 
time  fighting  a  battle  of  freedom  for  mankind,"  bring 
to  mind  the  more  modern  slogan  of  "Making  the 
world  safe  for  democracy."  Surely  the  enduring 
liberties  of  mankind  were  as  truly  endangered  during 
the  Civil  War  period  as  they  have  been  in  the  Euro- 
pean War  that  has  just  come  to  a  close. 

A  Monday  morning  paper  had  this  news  item: 
"Stars  and  stripes  were  raised  upon  the  tower  an  hour 
before  the  commencement  of  the  morning  service  at 
the  Stone  Church."  Another  paper  had  an  article 
entitled  "The  Stars  and  Stripes,"  running  as  follows: 

Our  glorious  banner  waved  from  the  front  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  yesterday,  and  was  regarded  with 
much  enthusiasm  by  the  populace.  There  is  just  now  a 
great  demand  for  Union  bunting,  and  the  national  colors 
are  flying  from  a  large  number  of  our  public  buildings. 

John  A.  Foot,  Jr.,  when  he  wrote  from  Switzer- 
land his  regret  for  not  having  been  able  to  attend 
the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  celebration  in  1895, 
mentioned  the  flag  raising: 

I  well  remember  at  the  storming  of  Fort  Sumter,  how  Dr. 
Goodrich,  Mr.  Cogswell  and  I  hoisted  the  American  flag 


168  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

on  the  east  steeple,  which  was  not  as  high  as  the  one 
torn  down. 

A  military  spirit  had  been  fostered  in  Cleveland 
prior  to  the  year  of  the  war,  not  only  by  the  unveiling 
or  Perry's  Monument  in  1860,  but  also  by  the  visit 
of  Ellsworth's  Zouaves  from  Chicago.  At  Lincoln's 
call  for  seventy-five  thousand  men,  the  Cleveland 
Grays,  seventy-five  strong,  or  eight  more  than  quota, 
at  once  responded.  It  was  the  first  company  in  Ohio 
to  reach  Columbus,  and  one  of  the  first  to  arrive  in 
Washington. 

Cleveland  sent  about  seven  thousand  soldiers  into 
the  bloody  struggle,  led  by  such  ofl[icers  as  Generals 
Elwell  and  Barnett,  and  Colonels  O.  H.  Payne, 
Creighton,  and  Crane.  On  April  23,  1861,  almost  as 
soon  as  any  soldier  had  left  to  defend  his  country, 
the  women  of  Cleveland,  including  many  from  the 
Stone  Church,  organized  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Society. 
This  accomplished  much  in  war  relief  work,  and  at 
the  great  Sanitary  Fair  held  in  1864  the  women 
raised  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  was  this 
war  work  of  the  women  that  prompted  Bishop  Rappe 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  plead  for  the 
founding  of  Charity,  or  St.  Vincent's  Hospital,  and 
ever  since  that  institution  of  mercy  has  been  given 
most  generous  Protestant  professional  and  financial 
assistance. 

In  an  anniversary  sermon  Dr.  Haydn  stated  that 
he  was  not  sure  that  the  record  of  the  Stone  Church, 
in  connection  with  the  Civil  War,  had  ever  been 
written,  but  he  mentioned  Dr.  H.  K.  Cushing  re- 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  169 

spending  as  surgeon  of  the  Ohio  7th  at  the  first  call; 
Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey,  30th  Infantry;  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Geo.  S.  Mygatt,  41st  Infantry;  Colonel 
Oliver  H.  Payne,  124th  Infantry;  Dr.  Gustave  C.  E. 
Weber,  surgeon  125th  Infantry;  Colonel  Creighton 
and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Crane,  of  the  7th  Ohio 
Volunteer  Infantry,  both  killed  at  Ringgold,  Georgia, 
at  the  Battle  of  Mission  Ridge,  November  27,  1863, 
and  buried  from  the  Stone  Church.  The  remains  of 
these  officers  were  interred  in  Woodland  Cemetery 
east  of  the  Woodland  Avenue  entrance. 

A  little  over  four  years  after  Abraham  Lincoln  had 
visited  Cleveland,  his  remains  were  brought  to  the 
city,  on  the  way  to  their  final  resting-place  at  Spring- 
field, 111.  The  city  had  scarcely  joined  with  the  whole 
North  in  jubilation  over  the  surrender  of  Lee,  when 
there  came  the  stunning  news  that  the  president  had 
been  assassinated.  This  dastardly  deed  was  per- 
petrated on  Good  Friday,  April  14,  1865,  and  Easter 
Sunday  morning  Dr.  Goodrich  delivered  again  a 
clear,  ringing  sermon  characterized  by  mental  poise, 
not  incompatible  with  depth  of  indignant  feeling,  a 
discourse  that  was  in  favorable  contrast  with  patri- 
otic sermons  delivered  not  only  in  Cleveland,  but 
throughout  the  nation,  at  that  time  of  crisis. 

The  text  was  Isaiah  2:22:  "Cease  ye  from  man 
whose  breath  is  in  his  nostrils."  During  his  discourse 
Dr.  Goodrich  said: 

We  thought  yesterday  that  we  had  touched  the  end  of 
our  trials  as  a  nation.  We  thought  the  Rebellion  had 
reached  its  limit  and  had  struck  its  last  blow,  but  there 


170  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

was  a  lower  depth  of  crime.  There  was  yet  the  dregs  of 
infamy  to  be  drunk  by  these  conspirators.  Treason 
having  failed  there  was  assassination.  Though  all  was 
lost  to  the  revolt,  something  was  left  for  hate  to  do.  It 
could  plunge  a  nation  into  sorrow.  It  could  wreak  its 
revenge  upon  two  strong  souls  [Lincoln  and  Seward]  who 
were  the  pillars  and  hope  of  the  Republic.  It  is  of  no 
consequence  whether  this  deed  can  be  traced  to  the 
leaders  of  the  Rebellion,  how  many  treasonable  minds 
were  cognizant  of  it,  or  whether  the  actors  were  in  open 
allegiance  with  the  Confederacy,  or  plotted  under  the 
rule  of  a  free  government.  The  act  was  done  in  the  in- 
terests of  treason,  and  was  inspired  by  the  same  spirit 
that  organized  the  revolt.  It  is  useless  to  speculate  upon 
the  consequences  of  this  crime.  It  did  not  belong  to  per- 
sonal malice,  but  was  prepared  for  public  ends.  It  was 
the  last  desperate  stroke  of  men  who  had  failed  in  every 
other  effort,  and  who  had  nothing  to  lose  and  something 
possibly  to  gain  by  chance  and  chaos.  But  in  this  also 
they  have  failed.  They  have  gained  nothing  but  revenge. 
They  have  made  for  the  Chief  Magistrate  they  have  slain 
an  eternal  memory  of  honor  and  sacrifice  while  the  world 
shall  stand.  The  first  duty  of  the  hour  is  to  put  our  trust 
afresh  in  God,  and  confidence  in  and  support  of  the 
new  president. 

In  conclusion  Dr.  Goodrich  alluded  to  the  religious 
faith  and  Christian  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
who  he  said  had  sought  wisdom  from  God,  and  had 
not  been  ashamed  of  Christ, 

Before  whom  we  humbly  trust  he  has  appeared,  a  sinner 

saved  by  grace,  a  steward  trusted  with  many  talents,  his 

work  well  done. 

The  remains  of  the  martyred  president  did  not 
reach  Cleveland  until  Thursday,  April  20,  1865,  six 
days  after  the  assassination.    Union  memorial  serv- 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  171 

ices,  simultaneous  with  similar  gatherings  throughout 
the  country,  were  held  at  the  noon  hour  in  three 
Cleveland  churches,  the  Old  Stone,  the  First  Baptist, 
and  the  First  Congregational  Church  on  the  West 
Side. 

The  Stone  Church  was  packed  to  the  doors.  The 
pall  covering  the  pulpit  made  a  background  for  the 
large  wreath  of  white  roses  suspended  in  front  of  the 
pulpit.  Judge  Sherlock  J.  Andrews  presided  and 
delivered  an  address.  The  Honorable  Richard  C. 
Parsons  of  the  Stone  Church  and  Elder  Edwin  R. 
Perkins  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  de- 
livered memorial  addresses. 

In  keeping  with  the  period  of  civic  improvement, 
the  Stone  Church  during  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Good- 
rich experienced  a  rich  development,  under  the 
guidance  of  this  talented  minister,  who  in  the  prime 
of  life  had  the  happy  faculty  of  showing  every  mem- 
ber his  post  of  duty.  Social,  literary,  and  philan- 
thropic organizations  multiplied.  Young  men  were 
appointed  to  the  gracious  task  of  ushering;  while  the 
young  women  were  invested  with  the  responsibility 
of  furnishing  flowers  for  the  church  and  in  various 
other  ways  making  their  rounded  accomplishments 
tributary  to  the  enriching  of  the  church  life.  Dr. 
Goodrich's  love  of  flowers  was  a  marked  characteris- 
tic, the  white  chrysanthemum  having  long  been  his 
favorite,  "Because,"  said  he,  "it  blooms  so  bravely, 
even  after  the  snow  comes." 

In  Dr.  Goodrich  every  member  felt  that  he  had 
found  a  friend,  everybody  trusting  him  because  hon- 


172  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

esty  and  sympathy  seemed  ingrained  in  his  nature. 
His  gracious  manner,  pleasing  voice,  comparative 
youth,  and  charming  presence  made  him  the  idol  of 
the  young;  while  his  practical  wisdom,  broad  culture, 
sincere  piety,  and  religious  zeal  won  the  hearts  of 
the  older  people.  He  knew  all  the  members  of  his 
church,  much  of  their  history,  and  in  every  house- 
hold he  was  an  ever-welcome  guest.  The  "Ladies 
Society"  organized  in  Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate  flourished 
increasingly  in  the  years  of  his  successor. 

At  Dr.  Aiken's  suggestion  in  1859  the  Stone  Church 
fostered  what  was  at  first  termed  the  "Merchant 
Street  Mission,"  a  Sunday  School  with  Mr.  Charles 
W.  Noble  as  superintendent.  The  community  was 
called  Wasonville,  a  name  taken  from  the  car-shops 
owned  by  Mr.  Charles  W.  Wason.  The  school  moved 
in  1860  to  the  south  side  of  St.  Clair  Street,  where  it 
continued  until  the  building  was  constructed  in  1867 
on  Aaron  Street.  There  it  remained  until  it  de- 
veloped into  the  North  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
entered  the  present  church  edifice  on  the  corner  of 
Superior  Avenue  and  East  Fortieth  Street. 

Much  of  the  care  of  the  Wasonville  Mission  was 
entrusted  to  the  Ladies'  Society,  such  as  supplying  a 
new  organ,  song-books,  and  various  helpful  equip- 
ments. Sessional  records  contain  many  references 
to  this  mission.  Omnibus  accommodations  had  to  be 
hired  for  the  teachers  and  others  engaged  in  the  work. 
In  1862  money  was  applied  for  the  purchase  of  a  lot, 
and  the  Reverend  Aaron  Peck,  who  had  labored  in 
the  mission,  was  continued  during  1866  at  a  salary 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  173 

of  twelve  hundred  dollars.  Later  plans  were  reported 
for  the  construction  of  a  chapel,  and  on  February 
10,  1867,  the  new  Mission  Chapel  at  Wasonville  was 
dedicated  by  Dr.  Goodrich  and  Dr.  Aiken.  The 
pastor  emeritus  presented  the  enterprise  with  a  pulpit 
Bible.  The  two  lots  forming  the  site  cost  nine  hundred 
fifty  dollars;  the  contractor's  work,  six  thousand 
seven  hundred  forty-seven  dollars;  the  furniture, 
four  hundred  ninety-six  dollars,  or  a  total  expend- 
iture of  eight  thousand  one  hundred  ninety-three 
dollars.  The  main  building  was  forty  by  sixty 
feet  in  dimensions,  with  a  rear  prayer-meeting  room 
twenty  by  twenty-five  feet.  Joseph  Ireland,  a 
prominent  city  architect  who  was  a  Presbyterian, 
planned  this  modest  structure.  An  elder  was 
elected  to  represent  the  Mission.  The  Reverend 
Aaron  Peck  was  continued  in  charge,  and  Mr.  T.  D. 
Crocker  served  as  superintendent,  with  Elder  Reuben 
F.  Smith  as  assistant. 

The  Reverend  B.  P.  Johnson  and  the  Reverend 
D.  W.  Sharts  afterwards  cared  for  this  missionary 
project,  until  in  1870  it  was  organized  into  the  North 
Presbyterian  Church.  Dr.  Goodrich  and  Elders 
Reuben  F.  Smith  and  George  H.  Ely  were  the  com- 
mittee that  perfected  the  organization  on  September 
19,1870,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  formal  organi- 
zation of  the  Stone  Church.  The  Reverend  Anson 
Smyth,  D.  D.,was  elected  as  first  pastor  of  the  new 
church,  but  he  never  was  installed. 

In  fostering  the  Wasonville  Mission  other  Stone 
Church  ladies  had  a  prominent  part.  As  Dr.  Aiken 
many  years  earlier  had  summoned  the  older  women 


174  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

of  the  congregation  to  service  in  the  form  of  a  Ladies' 
Society,  so  Dr.  Goodrich  in  1868  called  the  younger 
women  together  for  organization  into  what  was  first 
named  the  Young  Ladies'  Mission  Society,  but  after- 
wards Icnown  as  the  Goodrich  Society. 

The  first  special  duty  of  the  new  organization  was 
that  rendered  the  Wasonville  Mission;  also  that  of 
giving  supervision  to  social,  literary,  and  musical 
entertainments,  that  should  unite  the  mother  church 
in  common  interests.  Two-thirds  of  the  money 
raised  by  the  younger  women  was  voted  to  the 
Mission,  and  sewing  meetings  were  held  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  garments  for  the  city's  poor. 

While  the  members  sewed,  a  committee  had  charge 
of  reading  to  the  circle  of  workers.  One  year  the 
members  listened  to  The  Life  of  John  Milton,  the 
history  of  St.  John  and  His  Pupils,  and  the  home 
picture  of  The  Cotter  s  Saturday  Night.  Saturday 
afternoons  as  many  as  one  hundred  children  were 
gathered  together  and  taught  to  sew  by  the  Young 
Ladies'  Mission  Society.  Each  child  was  promised  a 
garment  when  she  had  completed  it  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  her  teacher.  One  of  the  most  pleasant  duties 
of  the  young  ladies  was  that  of  supplying  the  pulpit 
with  fresh  flowers,  and  every  Sunday  six  members 
of  the  society,  like  vestals,  kept  their  sacred  trust. 
During  1869  the  receipts  of  this  society  amounted  to 
one  thousand  dollars.  In  1873  these  increased 
to  one  thousand  three  hundred  eleven  dollars;  while 
the  following  year  the  receipts  amounted  to  one 
thousand  five  hundred  thirty  dollars,  showing  increas- 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  175 

ing  interest  and  vigor  in  the  work  of  the  younger 
women. 

The  society  took  charge  of  festivals  at  the  Wason- 
ville  Mission,  such  as  the  Christmas  entertainment 
of  1869,  when  six  hundred  children  were  entertained. 
In  1871  the  younger  ladies'  society  united  with  that 
of  the  older  women  in  taking  charge  of  church  socials. 
One  of  the  most  earnest  members  of  the  Young 
Ladies'  Mission  Society  was  Miss  Mary  Goodrich, 
who  entered  into  eternal  rest  a  year  after  the  death 
of  her  father.  In  the  records  of  the  society  are  these 
lines: 

Be  it  written  in  your  tenderest  words  within  the  annals 
of  1875,  that  dear,  loving,  prayerful,  zealous  Mary  Good- 
rich vanished  from  our  sight,  because  she  was  more  fit 
for  heaven  than  earth.  Write,  too,  upon  the  page  sacred 
to  her  memory,  "We  loved  her." 

In  a  letter  written  May  8,  1920,  by  the  Reverend 
Chauncey  W.  Goodrich,  D.D.,  son  of  the  Reverend 
William  H.  Goodrich,  D.D.,  and  at  present  pastor 
of  the  American  Church,  Paris,  France,  are  these 
lines: 

When  I  think  back  to  the  early  days  of  the  Old  Stone 
Church,  I  have  only  the  memories  of  a  little  boy  of  seven 
years,  supplemented  by  a  few  recollections  when  I  was 
ten  or  eleven.  These  are  too  fragmentary  and  trivial  to 
have  any  value.  I  recollect,  however,  with  rare  distinct- 
ness Mrs.  Mather,  then  Flora  Stone,  in  her  radiant  girl- 
hood and  young  womanhood,  when  she  could  have  been 
scarcely  in  the  twenties.  She  used  to  be  constantly  at 
our  home,  conspiring  in  association  with  my  sister  Mary, 
for  all  good  ends.    I  remember  how  eagerly  and  success- 


176  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

fully  they  worked  to  establish  a  home  for  friendless  girls. 
The  outstanding  impression,  however,  as  I  have  inti- 
mated, is  a  certain  radiance  and  eagerness  in  the  character 
of  Flora  Stone  that  I  can  never  forget. 

While  Miss  Mary  Goodrich  was  taken  away  in  early 
years  and  was  numbered  among  the  "forbidden 
builders,"  Miss  Flora  Stone,  who  became  Mrs.  Samuel 
Mather,  was  spared  many  years  to  exhibit  the  deep 
spirit  of  consecration  in  Christian  service  which  early 
characterized  the  Young  Ladies'  Mission  Society. 

In  the  recent  letter  of  the  Reverend  Dr.  Chauncey 
W.  Goodrich  there  are  these  additional  lines  bearing 
upon  the  days  when  his  father  was  pastor  in  Cleve- 
land: 

I  remember  the  boyish  envy  with  which  I  witnessed  the 
whole  family  prepare  piles  of  sandwiches  on  Monday 
morning  for  the  ministers'  meeting  which  my  father  in- 
augurated in  the  study  of  the  Old  Stone  Church.  He  was, 
I  think,  the  first  in  Cleveland  to  gather  a  group  of  minis- 
ters of  different  communions  regularly  in  conference.  I 
remember  the  personality  of  Judge  Sherlock  J.  Andrews 
with  unusual  distinctness,  although  as  a  boy  I  was  more 
impressed  with  his  delightful  humor  than  with  the  learn- 
ing which  was  doubtless  just  as  great.  I  recall  too  my 
first  initiation  into  the  way  in  which  every  one  in  trouble 
comes  to  a  pastor.  The  numberless  callers  who  came  for 
conferences  with  my  father,  and  who  went  away  appar- 
ently comforted  and  helped,  while  they  left  him  with  a 
sober  face,  have  left  a  very  distinct  picture  on  my  memory. 

The  exact  date  of  the  first  young  people's  prayer- 
meeting  held  in  the  Stone  Church  is  not  recorded. 
It  could  not  have  been  later  than  the  latter  half  of 
the  Goodrich  pastorate.   Prior  to  that  time  a  Wednes- 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  177 

day  evening  meeting,  in  the  nature  of  a  Bible  class 
and  prayer-meeting,  had  been  conducted  by  the 
younger  portion  of  the  congregation,  and  from  that 
beginning  there  must  have  developed  the  young 
peoples'  prayer-meeting  usually  held  Tuesday  even- 
ings in  the  Cleveland  churches,  until  the  rise  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society,  whose  meetings  were 
generally  held  Sunday  evenings. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  one  reason  why  the  call 
of  the  Stone  Church  appealed  so  strongly  to  Dr. 
Goodrich  was  the  heartiness  with  which  the  young 
people  entered  into  the  Wednesday  evening  meeting 
of  that  time. 

During  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Goodrich  the  Sunday 
School  work  grew  in  efficiency.  The  officers  and 
teachers  gave  time  not  only  to  the  care  of  the  home 
school,  but  also  to  that  of  the  Wasonville  Mission, 
and  occasionally  the  latter  outranked  numerically  the 
parent  organization.  Thus  in  1868  the  Stone  Church 
Sunday  School  had  an  enrollment  of  four  hundred 
twenty-five,  while  there  were  four  hundred  ninety- 
two  in  the  Mission  School.  Unfortunately  the  records 
of  Sunday  Schools,  young  peoples'  and  ladies'  so- 
cieties in  churches  have  not  been  preserved  as  con- 
secutively and  permanently  as  have  been  the  minutes 
of  church  sessions;  whereas  in  jthe  case  of  the  Stone 
Church  valuable  records  may  have  been  destroyed  in 
the  two  disastrous  fires. 

In  May  of  1868,  Dr.  Goodrich  in  his  decennial  ser- 
mon gave  this  summary: 

The  material  of  a  congregation  is  perpetually  altering, 


178  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

flowing  and  reflowing.  About  150  households,  larger  and 
smaller,  have  been  gathered  during  the  ten  years.  About 
75  families  have  passed  away  by  death  and  removals,  and 
at  present  260  families  properly  belong  to  this  congrega- 
tion. The  number  of  worshipers  has  doubled  in  ten  years. 
The  growth  of  the  congregation  has  been  numerically  at 
pace  with  that  of  the  city,  but  much  greater  in  ratio,  if 
compared  only  with  the  English-speaking  inhabitants,  to 
which  the  Stone  Church  alone  could  appeal. 

In  this  resume  no  account  has  been  made  of  the  Wason- 
ville  Mission.  In  1858  there  were  304  members  on  the  roll 
of  the  Stone  Church;  in  1868  there  were  606  communi- 
cants. Upon  profession  of  faith  260  have  been  received 
and  205  by  letters.  Death  has  taken  60  and  103  have 
been  dismissed  to  other  churches;  while  to  the  unknown 
list  60  have  been  relegated.  At  the  Mission  there  are  65 
members  and  30  families.  The  income  of  the  Church 
Society  in  1858  was  ^4,000,  and  this  has  risen  in  1868  to 
37,500.  During  the  decade  almost  340,000  has  been  spent 
for  home  missions  and  repairs,  such  as  310,000  for  enlarge- 
ment of  the  facilities  at  the  Stone  Church. 

In  this  decennial  year  of  1868  the  church  galleries 
were  constructed  and  the  graceful  spire  completed; 
while  a  little  later,  in  1871,  under  the  leadership  of 
Elder  George  H.  Ely,  the  narrow  chapel  and  parlors 
were  transformed  into  far  more  commodious  rooms. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  session  held  September  6,  1870, 
Elders  Mygatt  and  Ely  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  serve  with  the  pastor  in  making  arrangements 
for  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
founding  of  the  church.  Commemorative  services 
were  appointed  for  Sunday  evening,  September  18, 
1870.  It  was  a  modest  but  interesting  celebration. 
In  his  semicentennial  sermon  Dr.  Goodrich  stated 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  179 

that  during  the  fifty  years  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred thirty-five  communicants  had  been  enrolled  in 
the  Stone  Church,  and  including  the  Wasonville  Mis- 
sion, there  were  six  hundred  seventy-five  members  at 
the  time  of  the  celebration. 

The  description  which  Dr.  Goodrich  gave  of  the 
life  of  the  Stone  Church  could  as  appropriately  be 
repeated  at  the  centennial  jubilee.   His  analysis  was: 

Steadiness  and  unity  in  the  midst  of  haste  and  restlessness 
have  characterized  our  existence  as  a  church.  We  have 
not  stopped  to  prove  all  things,  but  we  have  tended  to 
hold  fast  that  which  is  good.  There  has  been  no  haste, 
no  partisanship  and  discord,  but  we  have  never  lapsed 
into  dead  orthodoxy,  or  been  content  with  precedents. 

In  conclusion  he  said: 

Few  probably  who  sit  in  this  assembly  will  be  here  in 
1920,  when  others  will  remember  us,  as  we  remember 
those  who  laid  the  corner-stones.  Let  us  do  our  part  as 
builders  in  this  house  of  God,  so  that  men  will  not  say 
that  we  wasted  great  opportunities,  and  that  on  the 
threshold  of  a  new  era  of  power  God  found  us  wanting. 

At  the  Sunday  evening  service  the  semicentennial 
exercises  were  continued  in  the  form  of  a  popular 
meeting.  The  Reverend  Osman  A.  Lyman,  D.D., 
pastor  of  the  Euclid  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church, 
delivered  an  address  to  a  large  audience.  He  was 
followed  by  Dr.  Aiken,  the  venerable  pastor  emeritus, 
who  made  perhaps  his  last  address  of  any  length. 
He  expressed  a  hope  that  there  might  be  a  condensed, 
consecutive  history  of  the  church  written.  In  the 
development  of  churches  an  irreparable  loss  follows 
the  failure  of  pastors  to  bequeath  to  succeeding  gen- 


180  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

erations  written  or  printed  sketches  of  their  times 
and  labors. 

In  reviewing  his  own  pastorate,  Dr.  Aiken  narrated 
at  the  semicentennial  celebration  the  following  inci- 
dent. An  Infidel  Club  having  existed  in  the  city  for 
some  time,  its  members  finally  challenged  Alexander 
Campbell,  the  founder  of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples, 
to  debate  the  question,  whether  or  not  the  Bible  is 
the  word  of  God.  The  challenge  was  accepted,  but 
inasmuch  as  there  was  no  suitable  hall  for  the  debate, 
permission  was  granted  to  the  contestants  to  make 
use  of  the  Stone  Church  lecture-room.  The  verbal 
contest  lasted  two  days,  and  the  champion  of  infi- 
delity was  evidently  routed,  for  a  death-blow  had 
been  given  the  Infidel  Club.  At  the  same  anniversary 
service  Elder  Truman  P.  Handy  and  Deacon  Moses 
White  related  some  of  the  earliest  events  in  the  life 
of  the  church;  while  the  closing  address  was  given 
by  the  Reverend  James  Eells,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church,  who  spoke  of  the  future, 
and  of  what  the  church  ought  to  be  in  the  light  of 
its  past. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  session  held  September  6, 
1870,  to  arrange  for  the  semicentennial  celebration, 
there  had  also  been  "a  full  exchange  of  views"  re- 
garding the  enriching  of  the  order  of  worship  by  the 
use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
"to  be  joined  in  audibly  by  as  many  of  the  church 
and  congregation  as  may  desire  to  do  so."  At  the 
close  of  the  next  prayer-meeting  the  recommendation 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  181 

of  the  session  was  ratified  "almost  unanimously"  by 
a  rising  vote. 

At  the  time  efforts  were  being  made  to  enrich 
church  worship,  the  session  had  been  compelled  to 
discipline  a  member  for  "taking  part  too  often  in 
prayer-meeting,  and  that  not  to  the  edification  of 
those  assembled."  The  brother  had  contracted  the 
evil  habit  of  making  his  prayers  and  remarks  pointed 
criticisms  of  a  personal  nature  directed  against 
church  oflRcers  and  members.  The  censorious  culprit 
claimed  that  all  objection  to  his  participation  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  he  had  not  received  a  college 
education,  but  that  plea  did  not  shield  him  from 
merited  suspension. 

The  steady  continuance  of  the  Stone  Church  in 
the  down-town  center  of  population  has  been  made 
possible  to  some  extent  by  endowment  funds.  The 
first  recorded  legacy,  a  very  modest  one  like  the 
widow's  mite  of  old,  was  that  received  November  18, 
1861,  when  by  the  provision  of  the  will  of  a  Mrs. 
Atchison  there  was  bequeathed  to  the  church  a  house 
and  lot.  A  year  later  this  property  was  sold  for 
four  hundred  fifty  dollars,  of  which  asset  one  hundred 
dollars  was  used  to  assist  in  the  proposed  completion 
of  the  spire  and  purchase  of  a  bell;  while  one  hundred 
fifty  dollars  went  toward  the  securing  of  a  site  for  the 
Wasonville  Mission. 

Dr.  Goodrich  began  to  suffer  with  ill  health  to  such 
an  extent  that  in  1866  an  extended  vacation  was 
granted.  The  session  tried  to  secure  President  Henry 
L.  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  of  Western  Reserve  College,  as 


182  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

pulpit  supply,  but  that  temporary  arrangement 
having  failed,  the  Reverend  Dr.  J.  G.  Atterbury  of 
Detroit  was  employed  "for  not  less  than  six  months, 
beginning  in  October,  1866." 

Soon  after  the  decennial  celebration  of  1868  Dr. 
Goodrich  again  found  it  necessary  to  seek  rest  upon 
the  continent.  Leave  of  absence  was  granted  and 
the  congregation  of  five  hundred  forty-eight  members 
was  districted  among  the  elders  for  visitation,  while 
Dr.  Atterbury  of  Detroit  again  supplied  the  pulpit. 
The  cause  of  the  pastor's  ill  health  proved  to  be  so 
deep-seated  that  on  June  22,  1872,  for  a  third  time 
he  requested  a  long  leave  of  absence. 

Dr.  Goodrich  was  not  only  granted  this  for  one 
year,  but  at  his  advice  immediate  steps  were  also 
taken  to  secure  an  assistant  pastor.  The  sessional 
minute  was: 

Believing  that  Rev.  H.  C.  Haydn,  late  of  Painesville,  0., 
is  in  all  respects  suitable  for  the  office,  the  trustees  are 
hereby  requested  to  unite  with  the  session,  in  calling  a 
Society  Meeting,  at  which  his  name  shall  be  presented  to 
the  Society,  and  if  such  be  their  pleasure  he  be  called  to 
the  associate  pastorate  of  this  church. 

At  a  congregational  meeting  held  July  10,  1872,  the 
Reverend  Hiram  C.  Haydn  was  called  at  a  salary  of 
four  thousand  dollars.  The  Cleveland  Presbytery 
met  in  the  Stone  Church  August  23,  1872,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  receive  the  pastor-elect,  not  exactly  accord- 
ing "to  the  book,"  but  as  Lincoln  said  of  his  election, 
"satisfactory  enough  for  all  practical  purposes." 

First  the  discovery  was  made  that  the  pastor-elect 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  183 

could  not  secure  a  letter  of  dismission  from  the 
Plymouth  Rock  Conference  of  the  Congregational 
Church  until  the  following  October,  but  an  informal 
letter  of  good  standing  having  been  received  from  the 
clerk  of  that  body,  the  Cleveland  Presbytery  deter- 
mined to  proceed  with  the  business  in  hand. 

Dr.  Goodrich  then  certified  that  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Cleveland  had  issued  a  call  for  the 
pastoral  services  of  the  Reverend  H.  C.  Haydn,  but 
that  owing  to  his  neglect  the  document  was  not  at 
hand  to  be  read,  or  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  pastor- 
elect. 

Presbytery  being  satisfied  with  this  verbal  statement 
voted  that  Rev.  H.  C.  Haydn  be  enrolled  as  a  member, 
when  the  duly  certified  letter  of  dismission  from  Plymouth 
Rock  Conference  be  received  by  the  Stated  Clerk;  voted 
also,  that,  in  the  emergency  of  Dr.  Goodrich  leaving  the 
country  at  once,  it  was  desirable  to  have  Dr.  Haydn's 
installation  take  place  before  his  departure;  therefore  it 
was  deemed  expedient  to  waive  the  slight  irregularity  in 
the  case  and  arrange  for  his  installation  next  Sabbath 
evening. 

All  who  knew  Dr.  Haydn's  later  ministry  will  agree 
that  there  was  something  peculiarly  appropriate  in 
the  manner  of  his  installation  over  the  Stone  Church 
before  having  been  legally  enrolled  a  member  of  Pres- 
bytery, for  while  this  Christian  leader  entertained 
respect  for  order  in  ecclesiastical  procedure,  he  never 
allowed  the  letter  of  the  law  to  prevent  the  securing 
of  results  that  would  promote  the  interests  of  his 
Master's  kingdom. 


184  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  following  was  the  order  of  installation,  Sunday 
evening,  August  25,  1872: 

Reading  of  Scriptures,  the  Rev.  Anson  Smyth,  D.D.; 
prayer,  the  Rev.  E.  B.  RafFensperger,  D.D.,  of  the 
Westminster  Church;  sermon.  Prof.  Henry  A.  Nelson, 
D.D.,  of  Lane  Theological  Seminary;  constitutional 
questions,  the  Rev.  James  A.  Skinner,  of  the  Case  Ave- 
nue Church;  installation  prayer,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  C. 
Aiken;  charge  to  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  James  Eells,  D.D.,  of 
the  Second  Church;  charge  to  the  people,  the  Rev. 
William  H.  Goodrich,  D.D.;  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
T.  K.  Noble;  benediction,  the  Rev.  H.  C.  Haydn. 

In  this  important  and  interesting  service  of  installa- 
tion the  three  pastors  of  the  Stone  Church,  pastor 
emeritus  and  the  two  associate  ministers  participated. 

The  following  day  Dr.  Goodrich  departed  with  his 
family  for  Europe,  in  hope  that  through  a  protracted 
sojourn  his  health  might  be  regained.  The  first  year 
ministered  to  a  physical  upbuilding,  although  more 
slowly  than  his  family  and  friends  had  hoped  might 
be  the  case.  He  then  felt  able  to  travel  and  a  few 
months  were  spent  in  Italy;  the  summer  in  Tyrol  and 
in  Switzerland;  while  after  a  trip  down  the  Rhine 
the  family  settled  at  Lausanne. 

At  length  Dr.  Goodrich  went  to  Paris  intending 
to  sail  for  home,  but  medical  advice  sent  him  back 
to  Lausanne,  where  he  remained  until  his  death.  Often 
had  he  spoken  of  returning  to  his  Cleveland  pastorate, 
and  he  had  nearly  completed  a  sermon  which  he  pur- 
posed to  deliver  upon  his  arrival  home.  Toward  the  end 
of  the  second  year  abroad,  however,  all  hope  of  ever 
seeing  his  loved  country  with  its  field  of  service  van- 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  185 

ished,  and  there  was  a  patient  bowing  to  the  inevit- 
able. The  face  that  had  longingly  gazed  toward  the 
land  of  birth  and  of  earnest  toil  for  the  Master  was 
turned  calmly  and  peacefully  toward  the  shores  of  a 
better  country. 

The  end  came  on  July  11,  1874,  at  the  Hotel 
Richemont,  Lausanne.  Accompanied  by  a  few  friends 
the  family  gathered  in  the  chapel  of  the  Eglise  Libre, 
where  brief  services  were  conducted  by  the  Reverend 
Leonard  W.  Bacon,  an  old  New  Haven  friend  who 
at  the  call  of  the  bereaved  family  had  hastened  from 
Geneva.  The  remains  were  taken  to  Havre,  where 
they  were  shipped  on  the  steamer  Erin  to  the  United 
States.  Elder  George  H.  Ely  and  Mr.  Gamaliel  E. 
Herrick,  representing  the  trustees  of  the  Church 
Society,  went  to  New  York  to  receive  the  body  and 
to  accompany  it  to  Cleveland,  where  according  to  the 
wish  of  the  deceased  interment  should  be  made. 

The  startling  news  of  the  death  of  the  senior  pastor 
of  the  Stone  Church  reached  the  younger  associate 
just  as  he  had  finished  preparing  his  second  anni- 
versary sermon  upon  the  text: 

Then  Samuel  took  a  stone  and  set  it  between  Mizpeh  and 
Shen,  and  called  the  name  of  it  Ebenezer,  saying,  Hitherto 
hath  the  Lord  helped  us. 

Although  the  design  of  the  discourse  was  not  wholly 
abandoned,  there  was  modification  sufficient  to  admit 
the  solemn  fact  overshadowing  all  other  events  in  the 
annals  of  the  church  life.  Thus  Sunday  morning  the 
service  was  of  a  memorial  nature,  but  in  the  evening 
the  Reverend  Dr.  A.  J.  F.  Behrends,  at  that  time 


186  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  but  in  later  years 
a  Congregational  minister  of  national  reputation, 
delivered  an  address  of  a  more  distinct  memorial 
character. 

Concerning  the  service  which  the  Reverend  Dr. 
William  H.  Goodrich  had  rendered  Cleveland,  one  of 
the  daily  papers  at  the  news  of  his  death  declared: 

It  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  man  to  hold  such  a  place 
in  men's  hearts  as  this  citizen  and  pastor  has  held  in 
Cleveland.  His  life  work  was  done  here  in  the  sight  of  all 
men.    How  unselfishly  and  grandly  done  we  know. 

When  Mrs.  Goodrich  and  children  reached  Cleveland, 
the  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  Stone  Church, 
Saturday  afternoon,  September  19th,  1874,  the  fifty- 
fourth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  church, 
while  the  burial  was  at  Lake  View  Cemetery. 

Appropriate  addresses  were  given  by  the  Reverend 
Dr.  H.  C.  Haydn,  assisted  by  the  Reverend  Chas.  S. 
Pomeroy,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church.  With  them  in  the  pulpit  were  the  Reverend 
James  Shaw,  D.D.,  of  Windham,  Ohio,  stated  clerk 
of  Cleveland  Presbytery;  the  Reverend  James  A. 
Skinner,  of  the  Westminster  Church,  and  Mr.  James 
M.  Hoyt,  an  intimate  friend  of  the  deceased.  The 
venerable  pastor  emeritus,  the  Reverend  Dr.  Samuel 
C.  Aiken,  was  present,  but  was  unable  to  participate 
in  the  services.  It  had  been  expected  that  the  Rev- 
erend Frederick  Brooks,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's 
Episcopal  Church  of  Cleveland,  and  brother  of  the 
famous  Bishop  Phillips  Brooks  of  Boston,  would  be 
present,  but   it  was  not  then  known  that  a  most 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  187 

tragic  death  had  overtaken  this  talented  Cleveland 
minister  while  visiting  his  brother  in  Boston. 

Following  the  funeral  a  memorial  service  was  held 
Sunday  morning  in  the  Stone  Church,  at  which  time 
Dr.  Haydn  delivered  the  discourse  contained  in  the 
"In  Memoriam"  volume,  copies  of  which  are  in  the 
archives  of  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
and  in  the  Public  Library.  This  address  gave  a  keen 
delineation  of  the  life  and  character  of  Dr.  Goodrich, 
and  to  Dr.  Haydn's  eulogy  is  due  the  greater  portion 
of  the  following  tribute  to  the  clergyman  who  during 
a  pastorate  of  sixteen  years  had  won  such  a  place  in 
the  hearts  of  Cleveland  citizens. 

The  blood  of  noble  ancestry  that  flowed  in  the 
veins  of  Dr.  Goodrich  is  not  to  be  undervalued.  Early 
associations  such  as  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  few  were  his 
of  necessity.  The  best  that  the  schools  could  do  for 
any  man  they  did  for  him.  Worldly  competence  that 
cushions  so  many  hard  places  and  rounds  so  many 
angles,  and  unlocks  so  many  otherwise  bolted  doors, 
came  to  his  help.  More  than  all  a  deep  religious 
spirit,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ, 
imbued  by  divine  love  and  chastened  affliction,  lent 
an  unfading  charm  to  his  life  and  character.  Nothing 
but  the  most  culpable  neglect  and  abuse  of  the  rarest 
opportunities  could  have  prevented  his  becoming  a 
man  of  most  symmetrical  character  and  transcendent 
usefulness.  How  well  he  improved  these  opportu- 
nities, not  lying  supinely  upon  them  or  trusting  in 
them  for  success,  but  turning  them  to  the  noblest 
ends,  multitudes  are  rising  on  every  side  to  tell. 


188  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

He  was  a  laborious  man,  making  rigorous  weekly- 
preparations,  with  rare  facility  for  work  and  ability 
to  enter  sympathetically  into  other  callings  than  his 
own.  He  had  a  fine  vein  of  humor  that  made  him  a 
delightful  companion.  Knowing  men  there  was 
great  tact,  sterling  common  sense,  and  sound  judg- 
ment in  approaching  them.  Many  times  it  was  said 
of  Dr.  Goodrich  that  he  never  made  mistakes,  some- 
thing that  he  of  course  would  never  allow,  but  his 
friends  felt  that  it  was  in  large  measure  true  of  him, 
since  he  was  remarkably  free  from  blunders  of  indis- 
cretion, and  was  wise  in  speech  and  happy  in  the  art 
of  expressing  his  thoughts. 

Although  born  and  reared  a  Congregationalist,  Dr. 
Goodrich  came  to  be  an  intelligent,  earnest  Presby- 
terian, and  the  growth  of  the  denominational  in- 
interest  in  Cleveland  owes  much  to  him. 

The  Christian  ministry  is  generally  recruited  from 
the  middle  or  more  humble  classes  of  society  rather 
than  from  the  families  of  the  well-to-do,  but  there 
are  marked  exceptions  that  may  prove  the  rule.  To 
such  a  consecrated  pastor  as  Dr.  Goodrich  ample 
resources  gave  a  better  command  of  time  and  of 
every  facility  for  usefulness  in  his  chosen  calling. 
It  put  him  in  helpful  relations  with  every  good  cause, 
and  gave  him  influence  with  men  as  a  citizen.  He 
was  a  bountiful  giver  and  his  substance  was  not  hus- 
banded on  his  own  manor,  but  allowed  freely  to  over- 
flow other  fields.  Unostentatiously  and  in  ways 
known  only  to  God,  he  ministered  to  the  needy  and 
to  the  cause  of  Christ.     Brethren  in  the  ministry, 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  189 

students  in  college  and  seminary,  men  and  women 
struggling  to  help  themselves,  could  testify  to  his 
generous  and  effective  sympathy. 

As  a  preacher  Dr.  Goodrich  was  not  scholastic,  not 
brilliant,  and  never  sensational.  His  sermons  were 
models  of  finished  composition,  symmetrical  and  com- 
plete, and  in  delivery  faultless.  He  was  not  dis- 
tinguished by  an  occasional  great  effort  among  scores 
of  inferior  ones,  but  the  sermons  were  uniformly  good. 
He  was  preeminently  an  experimental  preacher, 
drawing  from  the  full  refreshing  waters  of  the  gospel ; 
while  Christ  was  the  central  theme  of  all  his  sermons. 

Not  many  printed  discourses  of  Dr.  Goodrich  are 
extant.  A  few  to  be  found  in  the  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society  are:  "Sermon  on  Christian  Morals 
in  Social  Life,"  March  13,  1859;  "Christian  Necessity 
of  War,"  April  21,  1861;  "Special  National  Thanks- 
giving" [at  the  turning-point  of  the  Civil  War], 
August  7,  1863;  "The  Child  of  God  Comforted  in 
Death,"  delivered  at  the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Mary  E. 
Carson  in  1867;  "Sermon  at  the  Funeral  of  Dr.  John 
Delamater,  LL.D.,"  April  2,  1867,  and  "Lessons 
brought  from  a  Mother's  Grave,"  August  29,  1869, 
after  the  return  of  Dr.  Goodrich  from  the  funeral  of 
his  mother  who  had  passed  away  at  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  seventy-seven  years  of  age. 

Dr.  Goodrich  above  all  was  a  pastor,  and  in 
developing  the  working  energies  of  the  church,  in 
reconciling  differences  and  promoting  harmony  and 
brotherly  love,  in  ministering  to  souls  in  trouble,  and 
as  an  adviser  and  guide  for  men,  he  had  few  equals. 


190  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

If  the  long,  fruitful  pastorate  of  the  Reverend 
Samuel  Clark  Aiken,  D.D.,  in  the  Stone  Church  of 
Cleveland,  was  in  marked  providential  harmony  with 
the  ''period  of  establishing,"  both  in  civic  and  re- 
ligious affairs,  then  surely  the  Reverend  William 
Henry  Goodrich,  D.D.,  a  highly  cultured  minister  and 
able  citizen,  must  have  been  brought  to  Cleveland  as 
providentially  at  the  critical  "period  of  improving," 
both  in  religious  and  civil  matters. 

Born  and  reared  in  the  university  atmosphere  of 
New  Haven,  Dr.  Goodrich  early  became  interested 
in  Western  Reserve  College,  popularly  denominated 
"The  Yale  of  the  West."  During  his  pastorate  he 
was  not  only  a  trustee  of  Western  Reserve  College, 
but  also  a  warm  friend  of  the  Reverend  Henry  L. 
Hitchcock,  D.D.,  president  of  that  institution  of 
higher  learning.  The  two  men  walked  together  in 
mutual  counsel  and  helpfulness,  preaching  and  train- 
ing future  ministers.  They  loved  as  brothers  and  un- 
selfishly labored  to  strengthen  the  institution  in  which 
so  many  Yale  traditions  were  conserved.  President 
Hitchcock  died  a  year  before  Dr.  Goodrich  was  taken, 
but  at  the  service  held  in  memory  of  the  latter.  Presi- 
dent Carroll  Cutler,  Dr.  Hitchcock's  successor,  spoke 
of  the  close  friendship  that  had  existed  between  the 
two  noble  men.  When  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Goodrich  came 
to  Cleveland  there  were  three  little  children  in  the 
family:  Mary  Prichard  Goodrich,  who  died  Novem- 
ber 19,  1875,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  years;  Julia 
Webster  and  Frances  Louisa  Goodrich,  both  of  whom 
are   living,   the  latter  prominently  connected  with 


WILLIAM  HENRY  GOODRICH  191 

work  under  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions 
in  the  South,  with  residence  at  Asheville,  N.  C.  In 
Cleveland  two  children  were  born,  Ellen  Chauncey 
Goodrich,  who  died  June  9,  1903,  and  the  Reverend 
Chauncey  W.  Goodrich,  D.D.,  formerly  pastor  of  the 
Bolton  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleveland, 
but  at  present  pastor  of  the  American  Church  in 
Paris,  France.  The  widow,  Mrs.  Mary  Prichard 
Goodrich,  passed  away  September  24,  1911.  As  this 
review  is  made  of  the  enriching  influence  of  this 
second  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church,  one  cannot 
but  feel  that  the  loving  and  skilled  ministry  of  Dr. 
Goodrich  caused  that  now  venerable  church  organiza- 
tion to  approach  more  perfectly  the  poetic  ideal: 

Framed  of  living  stones,  cemented 

By  the  Spirit's  unity; 
Based  on  prophets  and  apostles, 

Firm  in  faith  and  stayed  on  Thee. 
May  Thy  church,  O  God,  Incarnate, 

Grow  in  grace,  in  peace,  in  love, 
Emblem  of  the  heavenly  Zion, 

The  Jerusalem  above. 


VII.  FIRST  PASTORATE  OF  THE  REVEREND 
HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN 

1872  -  1880 

The  surname  of  the  third  pastor  of  the  Old  Stone 
Church,  the  Reverend  Hiram  CoHins  Haydn,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  must  be  distinguished  from  the  German 
Haydn  as  well  as  from  the  Dutch  Heyden,  for  it  con- 
nects his  ancestral  line  with  the  English  Haydens  who 
abode  originally  in  a  town  that  occupied  a  plain  on  a 
hill.  At  first  the  name  of  the  place  was  Highdown,  or 
a  "high  level."  Then  it  was  written  Heydon  but  pro- 
nounced Highdon. 

The  name  of  the  town  was  applied  to  the  leading 
family,  the  moral  characteristics  of  whose  members 
are  interesting.  Such  was  their  attachment  to  local- 
ity that  for  two  hundred  fifty  years  they  resided  in 
the  same  place,  until  one  branch  moved  to  London. 
Foremost  in  zeal  for  religion  they  became  builders  of 
churches,  founders  of  schools  and  promoters  of  chari- 
ties. The  law  was  the  next  favorite  occupation  of  the 
English  Heydons,  who  were  ever  loyal  supporters  of 
government  and  faithful  knights  in  the  time  of  war. 

The  American  line  began  with  William  Hayden, 
who,  born  in  England,  died  at  Kenihvorth  [Clinton], 
Conn.,  in  1669.  The  third  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church 
belonged  to  the  eighth  generation  of  this  Connecticut 
Hayden's  descendants.    That  this  American  family 


194  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

was  also  attached  to  locality  is  proven  by  the  numer- 
ous descendants  of  William  Hayden  around  his  old 
farm  in  Windsor,  Conn.  Their  love  of  religion  was 
likewise  marked. 

The  reason  why  the  name  of  the  Stone  Church 
pastor  was  written  without  the  letter  "e"  was  due 
to  the  fact  that  a  Connecticut  ancestor  having  had 
trouble  with  his  mail,  in  a  region  where  Haydens 
abounded,  began  to  write  his  name  "Hayd-n,"  and 
then  the  natural  elimination  of  the  hyphen  made  the 
name  "Haydn." 

The  Reverend  Hiram  Collins  Haydn  was  born 
December  11,  1831,  at  Pompey,  N.  Y.  His  parents 
were  David  Ellsworth  and  Lucinda  Cooley  Haydn, 
the  mother  a  person  of  marked  sweetness  of  character 
and  deeply  religious.  Of  the  six  children  born  Hiram 
was  the  eldest  of  the  four,  two  boys  and  two  girls, 
who  grew  to  maturity. 

The  family  resided  upon  a  hillside  farm  not  easy 
of  cultivation,  but  of  beautiful  prospect.  In  a  red 
schoolhouse  at  the  base  of  the  hill,  the  children  re- 
ceived the  rudiments  of  an  education  in  the  four  and 
a  half  winter  months  allotted  for  schooling.  In  his 
early  teens,  before  modern  farm  machinery  had  been 
invented,  Hiram  took  his  place  with  the  men,  logging, 
ploughing,  mowing,  cradling,  and  as  early  as  twelve 
years  of  age  he  ''earned  his  keep."  His  education  was 
then  transferred  to  Pompey  Hill  Academy,  over  two 
miles  away.  Either  afoot  or  on  horseback  the  lad 
journeyed  to  school,  after  having  risen  before  day- 
light to  care  for  the  farm  stock.    One  winter  he 


/. 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  197 

counted  it  great  fortune  "to  chore  for  his  board"  in 
the  village  near  the  Academy. 

The  winter  of  1850  brought  a  great  epoch  in  this 
youth's  life.  A  powerful  revival  was  "prayed  into 
being"  in  the  old  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pom- 
pey,  N.  Y.  A  record  in  Dr.  Haydn's  handwriting 
runs: 

The  announced  conversion  of  a  companion  of  mine 
was  a  summons  to  me  to  seek  my  "soul's  salvation."  I 
gave  myself  up  to  the  divine  influences  about  me.  The 
teaching  of  the  period  was  Calvinistic  and  the  guidance 
was  chary  of  encouraging  human  effort.  The  attitude  was 
rather  that  of  waiting  for  the  movement  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  and  the  revelations  of  the  Divine  Will  in  experience. 
It  is  enough  to  say  that  after  long  tribulation  I  arrived 
at  the  beginning  of  a  religious  experience.  It  was  a  great 
change,  for  whatever  else  I  had  been,  I  was  far  from  a 
wholesome  religious  life.  I  had  for  years  lived  in  the  fear 
of  death;  the  Millerite  teachings  had  affrighted  me,  and 
the  Calvinistic  discussions  had  impressed  me  that  I  could 
not  do  anything,  if  I  would,  and  that  everything  an  un- 
regenerate  man  could  do  was  sin,  but  I  was  ill  at  ease 
and  my  joy  (?)  at  the  prospect  of  facing  the  issue  in  a 
revival  was  sincere.  I  was  in  my  nineteenth  year,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  my  life  it  dawned  upon  me  that  God 
might  have  something  for  me  beyond  the  life  of  the  farm. 
It  is  scarcely  conceivable  what  a  widening  of  the  horizon 
was  now  experienced.  I  was  regarded  by  our  townsfolk 
as  a  good  scholar,  and  with  several  others  it  became  a 
question  -  should  we  enter  the  ministry.'*  To  this  I  was 
encouraged.  My  father  had  no  objections,  though  the 
help  he  could  give  me  was  less  than  3100. 

Thus  until  twenty-two  years  of  age  the  son  of  a  hill- 
side farmer  labored  faithfully  until,  with  very  meager 


198  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

financial  support,  he  sought  higher  education  by- 
entering  Amherst  College  in  the  autumn  of  1853  as 
a  sophomore  by  no  means  well  prepared.  It  was  his 
first  leave-taking  from  home;  his  first  glimpse  of  the 
outside  world. 

He  once  wrote  by  way  of  reminiscence: 

A  green  boy  was  I,  though  in  my  twenty-second  year,  as 
I  strolled  up  Broadway  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  first 
World's  Fair  on  this  side  of  the  sea.  From  close  work  on 
the  farm  to  close  work  at  books  was  a  trying  experience. 
I  passed  the  homesick  stage,  and  found  fellows  of  like 
mind  in  my  class,  men  as  poor  as  I  was. 

One  of  these  classmates  was  the  Reverend  E.  P. 
Goodwin,  D.D.,  who  became  a  Congregational  minis- 
ter of  prominence  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  then  in 
Chicago,  ni.  He  was  Dr.  Haydn's  roommate  first  at 
Amherst  College,  and  then  at  Union  Theological 
Seminary  in  New  York  City.  Of  his  college  course 
Dr.  Haydn  many  years  later  modestly  wrote: 

How  it  was  that  I  came  to  the  rank  of  Phi  Beta  Kappa, 
to  be  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the  college  magazine,  class 
poet,  and  prize  essayist  (325),  I  scarcely  know.  In  the 
essay  I  took  the  ground  that  the  advance  of  civiHzation 
and  knowledge  was  not  detrimental  to  poetry,  my  con- 
testant taking  the  opposite  view. 

After  graduation  from  Amherst  College  in  1856 
young  Haydn  first  planned  to  attend  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  but  during  the  six  weeks'  vacation 
granted  Amherst  seniors  prior  to  commencement  he 
returned  home,  there  to  suffer  an  attack  of  measles, 
the  ill  effect  of  which  continued  to  be  a  "thorn  in  the 
flesh"  throughout  life.    Having  returned  to  graduate, 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  199 

a  relapse  caused  serious  eye  trouble,  and  for  two 
months  he  could  not  read.  In  the  meanwhile  New 
York  City  was  sought  as  a  place  where  employment 
could  be  found  in  case  student  life  were  out  of 
question,  but  a  physician  to  whom  was  committed 
the  physical  welfare  of  the  Union  Seminary  students 
brought  such  relief  that  the  grateful  patient  entered 
Union  instead  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary. 
Edwin  P.  Goodwin  again  became  his  roommate; 
while  Arthur  Mitchell,  destined  to  become  the  fourth 
pastor  of  the  Stone  Church,  was  a  classmate,  but  as 
the  latter  resided  in  New  York  City  acquaintance 
was  confined  mainly  to  the  lecture  room. 

It  was  the  day  of  Professor  Edward  Robinson, 
noted  for  his  Palestinian  explorations;  of  Professor 
Henry  B.  Smith,  the  acute  Christocentric  theologian; 
of  Professor  Thomas  Skinner,  and  of  Professor  Ros- 
well  D.  Hitchcock,  who  was  in  the  early  day  of  his 
pulpit  power.  In  addition  to  such  a  faculty  the 
students  had  the  opportunity  of  hearing  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  William  Adams,  Stephen  Tyng,  Joseph  P. 
Thompson  of  the  Broadway  Tabernacle,  and  George 
B.  Cheever,  the  "Anti-slavery  Thunderer." 

During  seminary  days  young  Haydn  had  regular 
mission  work,  first  in  Dr.  Bethune's  church  in  Brook- 
lyn, and  then  in  the  Thirteenth  Street  Mission  con- 
nected with  the  Washington  Place  Church,  of  which 
Dr.  Potts  was  pastor.  For  such  service  a  student  was 
allowed  two  dollars  per  week.  The  summer  vacations 
brought  work  among  the  Mohegan  Reservation  In- 
dians along  the  River  Thames  in  eastern  Connecticut, 


200  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

consisting  of  teaching  a  common  school  five  days  a 
week,  visitation  of  the  people  and  the  conducting  of 
Sunday  services.  The  compensation  for  the  vacation 
work  was  one  hundred  dollars. 

During  his  summer  vacation  experiences  the  stu- 
dent became  acquainted  with  Norwich  families,  and 
there  he  first  met  Miss  Elisabeth  Coit,  who  afterwards 
became  his  wife.  The  summer  service  likewise  intro- 
duced him  to  the  neighboring  parish  of  Montville, 
Conn.,  his  first  pastorate  after  graduation  in  1859 
from  Union  Seminary. 

The  Montville  Church  was  badly  run  down.  An 
annual  income  of  four  hundred  dollars  had  met  the 
minister's  salary,  the  congregation  having  raised  one 
hundred  dollars  to  pay  the  incidental  expenses.  The 
new  minister's  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars  seemed, 
therefore,  an  impossibility,  but  it  was  raised;  also 
additional  funds  sufficient  to  effect  a  thorough  reno- 
vation. After  a  year  and  a  half  at  Montville,  the  eye 
affliction  returned.  The  father  of  Miss  Elisabeth  Coit 
suggested  a  trip  to  Europe,  not  only  for  rest,  but  also 
for  consultation  at  Lausanne  with  a  distinguished 
oculist.  The  outcome  of  the  proposition,  however, 
was  the  marriage  May  1,  1861,  of  the  Reverend 
Hiram  C.  Haydn  and  Miss  Elisabeth  Coit.  The  wed- 
ding trip  extended  as  far  south  as  Rome  and  Venice 
and  then  through  Switzerland  to  England  by  way  of 
the  Rhine,  Brussels,  Antwerp  to  London;  from  Glas- 
gow to  Belfast,  Dublin,  Chester,  and  Liverpool, 
whence  the  homeward  voyage  began. 

After  home  had  been  regained,  a  new  parish  was 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  201 

accepted  January  1,  1862,  at  Meriden,  Conn.,  a  large 
congregation,  critical  and  accustomed  to  experienced 
ministers.  Furthermore  it  was  war  time.  Soon  after 
having  become  settled  in  the  parsonage  the  young 
wife  passed  away,  leaving  a  baby  daughter  five  days 
old.  The  Coits  took  the  little  one  to  their  home,  while 
the  desolate  parsonage  received  the  care  of  the  be- 
reaved pastor's  sister.  In  order  to  regain  strength  a 
western  trip  was  taken  up  the  Great  Lakes  to  Supe- 
rior City  and  thence  to  Chicago. 

On  January  7,  1864,  the  Reverend  Hiram  C.  Haydn 
and  Miss  Sarah  J.  Merriman,  of  Meriden,  Conn.,  were 
married,  and  the  motherless  daughter  was  brought  to 
the  parsonage.  At  Meriden  the  son  Charles  was  born 
in  November  of  1865,  and  soon  after  the  Meriden 
pastorate  was  dissolved.  For  six  months  the  St.  Johns- 
bury  Church  was  supplied  during  the  absence  of  the 
pastor,  when  through  the  recommendation  of  the 
Reverend  E.  P.  Goodwin,  D.D.,  the  chum  of  college 
and  seminary  days,  and  then  pastor  of  a  Congrega- 
tional Church  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  the  Reverend  Hiram 
C.  Haydn  accepted  a  call  to  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Painesville,  Ohio,  a  beautiful  place  of  five 
thousand  inhabitants,  many  of  New  England  stock. 
The  church  was  a  strong  one  for  Ohio  and  made 
especially  attractive  by  reason  of  the  attendance  of 
the  one  hundred  young  ladies  from  Lake  Erie  Semi- 
nary. 

During  the  first  winter  the  Reverend  E.  P.  Good- 
win, D.D.,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  assisted  his  Paines- 
ville friend  in  a  series  of  special  meetings,  which  not 


202  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

only  added  to  the  church  over  one  hundred  members 
upon  confession  of  their  faith,  but  also  prompted  the 
construction  of  a  chapel  and  parsonage. 

In  this  happy  pastorate  the  Reverend  Hiram  C. 
Haydn  not  only  became  a  trustee  of  Lake  Erie  Semi- 
nary but  also  of  Western  Reserve  College,  then  loca- 
ted at  Hudson,  Ohio.  Acquaintance  with  many  promi- 
nent religious  workers  in  Cleveland,  only  thirty  miles 
away,  was  also  formed.  During  the  fourth  year  of 
the  Painesville  pastorate,  members  of  the  church 
having  learned  of  the  proposed  trip  of  Dr.  Goodwin 
to  Egypt  and  the  Holy  Land,  presented  their  minister 
with  a  purse  in  order  that  he  also  might  become  a 
member  of  the  touring  party. 

He  sailed  January  1,  1870,  for  London,  to  begin 
what  he  asserted  to  have  been 

The  most  profitable  five  months  educationally  of  my 
life,  and  I  have  never  ceased  to  be  grateful  to  God  and 
to  my  people  for  the  opportunity. 

Later  Dr.  Goodwin  recommended  his  college  and 
seminary  classmate  to  the  Pilgrim  Congregational 
Church,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  then  worshiping  in  a  chapel 
with  a  new  church  edifice  already  enclosed.  Dr.  Haydn 
resigned  the  Painesville  charge  and  went  to  St.  Louis, 
but  without  having  formally  accepted  the  flattering 
call.  He  proposed  five  months'  trial  of  the  field,  but 
at  the  end  of  that  period  for  a  number  of  reasons 
settlement  was  not  considered  advisable. 

Opportunity  to  supply  the  Second  Congregational 
Church  of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  at  once  presented  it- 
self, with  the  possibility  of  visiting  the  wonders  of  the 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  203 

Pacific  Coast.  The  San  Francisco  Church  urged  the 
acceptance  of  a  call,  but  this  was  declined  and  the 
traveler  returned  to  attend  the  State  Congregational 
Conference  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  where  as  retiring  mod- 
erator he  delivered  the  opening  sermon. 

From  Marietta  Dr.  Haydn  went  by  request  to 
Oberlin  to  occupy  for  a  Sabbath  the  pulpit  long  filled 
by  Charles  G.  Finney,  who  was  closing  his  famous 
pastorate.  The  result  of  this  visit  was  a  unanimous 
call,  to  which  was  attached  a  long  list  of  college  stu- 
dents' names.  Some  Oberlin  "Perfectionists,"  how- 
ever, sent  letters  to  Pompey,  N.  Y.,  where  Dr.  Haydn 
went  after  having  visited  the  college  town,  making 
inquiry  regarding  the  prospective  pastor's  attitude 
toward  things  that  they  held  especially  dear.  At 
the  same  time  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Cleveland  was  considering  Dr.  Haydn  as  a  possible 
associate  of  Dr.  Goodrich.  Without  having  preached 
to  the  Cleveland  congregation.  Dr.  Haydn  received  a 
unanimous  call.  The  Oberlin  opportunity  with  its 
student  life  appealed  strongly,  but  the  Cleveland  invi- 
tation was  accepted,  and  the  last  Sunday  morning  of 
August,  1872,  Drs.  Aiken,  Goodrich,  and  Haydn 
united  in  the  communion  service,  while  the  installa- 
tion service  was  held  in  the  evening. 

Dr.  Haydn's  earliest  Cleveland  home  was  on  Case 
Avenue  [East  Fortieth  Street],  the  first  residence  in 
those  days  on  the  west  side  of  the  street  south  of 
Prospect  Avenue,  then  considered  the  outskirts  of  the 
city.  There  Professor  Howell  M.  Haydn  was  born. 
Although  an  associate  pastor  Dr.  Haydn  was  practi- 


204  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

cally  in  sole  control  of  the  Stone  Church  from  the 
time  of  installation.  He  deemed  it  fortunate  that  for 
two  years  Dr.  Goodrich  was  considered  the  nominal 
head,  since  it  gave  time  for  the  junior  pastor  to  grow 
into  the  place,  and  the  new  relationship  was  cemented 
by  the  mutual  grief  over  the  great  common  loss  when 
two  years  later  the  senior  pastor  died.  It  was  the 
peculiar  duty  of  Dr.  Haydn  to  conduct  the  funerals  of 
both  Dr.  Aiken  and  Dr.  Goodrich,  the  former  in 
extreme  old  age,  the  latter  in  the  prime  of  life. 

The  first  pastorate  of  Dr.  Haydn  in  the  Stone 
Church  continued  from  1872  to  1880.  The  six  stated 
supplies  served  the  congregation  during  the  period  of 
municipal  "settling."  The  pastorate  of  Dr.  Aiken 
was  co-existent  with  the  period  of  civic  "establish- 
ing;" that  of  Dr.  Goodrich  with  the  period  of  "im- 
proving," and  now  Dr.  Haydn's  two  pastorates,  sep- 
arated by  the  four  years'  service  of  the  Reverend 
Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D.,  were  to  extend  through  a 
marked  period  of  civic  and  ecclesiastical  "enlarging." 
This  characteristic  was  not  as  prominent  in  the  first 
settlement  of  Dr.  Haydn  as  it  was  in  the  second  pas- 
torate, but  the  era  of  an  Enlarged  Presbyterianism 
and  of  a  Greater  Cleveland  could  be  discerned  during 
the  earlier  eight  years. 

In  1872,  the  year  that  Dr.  Haydn  came  to  the  Stone 
Church,  East  Cleveland  was  annexed,  the  territory 
between  Willson  Avenue  [East  Fifty-fifth  Street],  and 
Doan's  Corners,  now  Euclid  Avenue  and  University 
Circle.  The  East  Cleveland  of  today  was  then  known 
as  Collamer,  and  prior  to  that  as  Euclid.  The  second 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  205 

year  of  Dr.  Haydn's  pastorate,  or  in  1873,  Newburgh, 
once  larger,  healthier,  and  more  prosperous  as  a  farm 
district  than  Cleveland,  was  annexed.  It  had  become 
a  small  city,  a  great  industrial  community  around  the 
Cleveland  Rolling  Mill  Company.  For  a  number  of 
years  after  annexation,  or  until  the  influx  of  Slavic 
mill-workers  at  the  time  of  the  great  strike  of  1882, 
much  of  the  territory  between  Cleveland  and  New- 
burgh remained  sparsely  settled. 

In  1871  a  Board  of  Park  Commissioners  had  been 
created,  when  few  dreamed  of  the  park  and  boulevard 
system  now  so  highly  appreciated. 

A  member  of  considerable  prominence  in  the  Stone 
Church,  the  Honorable  Richard  C.  Parsons,  who 
served  in  Congress  in  1873,  introduced  the  first  bill 
in  behalf  of  breakwater  protection  to  lake  commerce. 
For  years  the  improvement  of  shipping  facilities  at 
the  port  of  Cleveland  was  a  leading  issue  in  con- 
gressional campaigns,  but  with  all  that  the  Govern- 
ment has  done  the  facilities  have  not  kept  pace  with 
the  demands  of  the  local  port  of  entry;  hence  the 
diverting  of  extensive  coal  and  iron  ore  business  to 
the  neighboring  ports  of  Ashtabula,  Fairport,  Lorain, 
and  Huron. 

Dr.  Haydn's  first  Stone  Church  pastorate  was  pros- 
ecuted under  the  stress  of  the  great  national  panic 
of  1873.  While  the  financial  crash  precipitated  by 
"Black  Friday"  was  in  measure  an  aftermath  of  the 
exhaustive  Civil  War,  it  was  also  accompanied  by 
wild  land  speculation.  Suburban  farms  at  a  distance 
from  the  city  brought  as  high  as  one  thousand  dollars 


206  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

per  acre.  Ruin  came  to  some  investors;  others  were 
able  to  retain  their  holdings,  which  were  sold  many 
years  later  for  half  the  purchase  price;  while  a  few 
after  the  lapse  of  half  a  century  have  recently  allotted 
the  property.  This  has  been  the  case  of  a  large 
tract  of  land  on  Warner  Road  purchased  by  Mr.  John 
D.  Rockefeller  prior  to  the  1873  panic.  Multitudes 
were  swept  into  the  feverish  maelstrom  of  speculation 
and  the  panic  hampered  religious  work. 

As  late  as  the  close  of  Dr.  Haydn's  first  pastorate 
in  1880  the  nation  was  painfully  recovering  from  this 
financial  crash.  During  those  years  of  stress,  how- 
ever. Dr.  Haydn  in  reports  to  Presbytery  sounded  a 
clarion  note,  like  that  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Christians 
of  Macedonia  urging  all  "in  a  great  trial  of  affliction 
to  abound  in  their  deep  poverty  unto  the  riches  of 
their  liberality."  As  chairman  of  the  Foreign  Mis- 
sions Committee  in  1878,  he  exhorted  the  country 
churches  within  the  bounds  of  Presbytery  in  these 
characteristic  words: 

The  good  times  in  the  country  do  not  seem  to  have  helped 
the  country  churches  to  make  up  the  deficits  occasioned 
by  hard  times  in  city  and  town;  on  the  contrary,  by  force 
of  example  or  habit,  they  seem  to  have  fallen  under  the 
impression  that  however  bountiful  God's  harvests,  there 
is  no  connection  between  them  and  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  upon  the  frontier,  or  in  the  more  distant  heathen 
regions. 

The  year  following  this  panic  there  arose  a  remark- 
able moral  movement  known  as  the  Woman's  Tem- 
perance Crusade,  whose  educational  effect  can  not  be 
fully  estimated,  in  the  prolonged  warfare  against  the 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  207 

liquor  traffic.  Prior  to  the  Civil  War  the  national 
contest  for  the  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  alcoholic  drinks  had  almost  reached  the  goal 
of  victory,  ten  states  having  obtained  prohibitory 
laws.  It  seemed  as  if  the  land  would  soon  abolish  the 
evil  of  strong  drink,  but  following  the  Civil  War  there 
came  the  heavy  European  emigration  given  to  the 
use  of  alcoholic  drinks.  This  was  especially  true  of 
an  increased  consumption  of  beer,  fostered  by  Teu- 
tonic emigration.  That  type  of  citizenship  made  itself 
pleasingly  manifest  by  the  erection  in  1874  of  the 
first  Saengerfest  building  on  Euclid  Avenue,  between 
what  were  then  Case  and  Sterling  Avenues.  Love  of 
good  music  was  emphasized  by  those  who  also  formed 
Sunday  processions  of  marchers  who  bore  kegs  of 
beer  upon  their  shoulders,  along  Garden  Street  [Cen- 
tral Avenue]  to  Willson  Avenue  [East  Fifty-fifth 
Street],  and  thence  to  Haltnorth's  Gardens,  just  be- 
yond the  city's  eastern  limits,  in  order  to  make  a 
public  protest  against  Sabbath  laws,  as  hampering 
"personal  liberty." 

When  this  determination  of  newly  welcomed  citi- 
zens to  annul  "sumptuary  laws"  and  to  install  the 
European  Sabbath  in  the  land  of  their  adoption  had 
become  threatening,  the  native  womanhood  of  the 
nation  rose  in  one  mighty  protest.  While  lecturing 
at  Hillsboro,  Ohio,  Dr.  Dio  Lewis  of  Boston  expressed 
confidence  that  the  liquor  dealers  of  the  land,  whose 
saloons  were  beginning  to  occupy  every  prominent 
street  corner  in  American  cities,  would  heed  the  cry 
of  outraged  womanhood,  become  conscience  stricken, 


208  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

and  abandon  the  accursed  business,  if  Christian 
women  in  the  spirit  of  importunate  prayer  would 
plead  for  the  moral  safety  of  the  rising  generation. 

Having  started  December  23,  1873,  at  Hillsboro, 
Ohio,  the  crusade  spread  rapidly  through  smaller 
Ohio  cities.  Cleveland  women  wondered  whether  or 
not  this  moral  wave  could  possibly  reach  the  larger 
centers  of  population.  On  March  13,  1874,  a  crusade 
league  was  formed  in  Cleveland.  Miss  Sarah  Fitch, 
for  many  years  a  most  devoted  worker  in  the  Stone 
Church,  became  president;  while  Mrs.  W.  A.  Ingram 
served  as  secretary. 

The  ladies  of  the  churches  gathered  daily  for  con- 
ference and  prayer,  either  in  the  Stone  Church  or  the 
old  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Chapel.  In  the  Newburgh  district  and 
in  surrounding  towns  the  crusade  was  already  in  full 
action.  Definite  rules  were  adopted  for  the  Cleveland 
movement.  No  saloon  was  to  be  entered  without  the 
proprietor's  consent.  At  the  outset  there  was  to  be 
no  marching  without  police  protection,  and  reporters 
were  invited  to  accompany  the  crusaders  in  order 
that  the  public  might  have  accurate  information  re- 
garding the  movement.  Few  excesses  characterized 
the  Cleveland  crusade,  which  continued  a  number  of 
weeks.  Pulpits  thundered  against  the  liquor  evil; 
women  prayed,  sang  and  spoke  in  billiard  rooms,  be- 
fore saloon  bars  and  on  the  streets;  while  processions 
of  temperance  societies,  including  Roman  Catholic 
organizations,  at  times  filled  the  streets.  Of  the  three 
thousand  women  banded  together  in  the  Cleveland 
crusade  only  a  minority  engaged  in  the  street  work, 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  209 

but  all  added  to  the  impetus  of  the  moral  protest. 
"One  gentle  lady,"  runs  an  account  of  the  movement, 
**Mrs.  S.  Williamson,  by  her  potent  influence  closed 
seven  of  the  worst  saloons  in  Union  Lane." 

One  day  fifteen  hundred  women  gathered  in  the 
Stone  Church,  and  after  prayer  and  conference  five 
hundred  of  them  called  upon  the  wholesale  liquor 
dealers  of  Merwin  and  River  Streets.  Another  large 
audience  convened  May  1,  1874,  in  the  Stone  Church, 
for  the  purpose  of  receiving  reports.  Praying  bands 
had  visited  three  distilleries,  eight  breweries,  thirty 
drug  stores,  thirty-five  hotels,  ten  of  which  had  abol- 
ished bars;  forty  wholesale  dealers  and  eleven  hun- 
dred saloons.  These  bands  had  held  many  meetings 
in  the  open  air,  in  halls,  political  wigwams  and  in  a 
number  of  warehouses  and  offices,  into  which  the 
ladies  had  been  invited  to  pray  for  neighboring  liquor 
sellers  who  had  refused  entrance  to  their  places.  The 
total  number  of  dealers  who  signed  the  pledge  had 
been  seventy-five;  property  owners  two  hundred,  and 
citizens  ten  thousand. 

Among  the  valued  adjuncts  to  this  crusade  were 
the  noon  meetings  in  the  Stone  Church  parlors,  and 
the  assistance  rendered  by  such  pastors  of  down- 
town churches  as  the  Reverend  H.  C.  Haydn,  the 
Reverend  A.  J.  F.  Behrends,  the  Reverend  Charles 
S.  Pomeroy  and  the  Reverend  S.  W.  Duncan.  Pastors 
throughout  the  city  also  gave  valued  support. 

While  this  type  of  temperance  work  failed  to  effect 
permanent  transformation,  and  to  many  appeared 
like  a  futile  attempt  to  dam  the  ever-increasing  liquor 


210  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

stream  with  bulrushes,  there  was  born  an  inspiration 
which  produced  abiding  results.  Powerful  agencies 
for  the  ultimate  overthrow  of  the  liquor  traffic  were 
at  once  founded,  especially  the  Women's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  and  many  local  charities. 

One  splendid  outcome  of  the  crusade  was  the  erec- 
tion on  Ontario  Street,  not  far  from  the  Stone  Church, 
of  the  Peoples'  Tabernacle.  Mr.  William  H.  Doan, 
eminent  in  Cleveland  for  his  many  philanthropies, 
built  this  for  popular  gatherings,  and  for  years  it  con- 
tinued the  center  of  reform  movements  and  later 
it  became  the  birthplace  of  educational  work  by 
means  of  popular  concerts  and  lectures.  This  was 
also  the  building  in  which  the  Moody  and  Sankey 
evangelistic  campaign  was  conducted  in  1879. 

If  the  Stone  Church  could  speak  what  a  story  could 
it  relate,  not  only  of  the  events  within  its  smoke- 
begrimed  walls,  but  also  in  the  Public  Square  which 
it  has  faced  for  so  many  years.  There  would  be  during 
the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Haydn  the  story  of  the  Centen- 
nial Celebration  of  1876.  At  daybreak  July  4,  1876, 
the  wooden  flagstaff  in  the  Public  Square  was  dis- 
placed by  a  lofty  one  of  steel,  the  gift  of  the  Cleveland 
Rolling  Mill  Company,  and  said  to  have  been  the 
first  of  its  material  ever  fashioned.  From  a  poet  the 
event  elicited  a  few  verses  such  as : 

The  banner  that  a  hundred  years 

Has  waved  above  our  good  ship's  keel, 

Upheld  by  oak  or  mast  of  pine, 

Now  proudly  floats  from  staff  of  steel. 

One  feature  of  the  National  Centennial  Celebra- 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  211 

tion  was  the  singing  of  the  public  school  children, 
led  by  Professor  N.  Coe  Stewart  and  massed  upon  a 
rising  series  of  seats  in  the  center  of  the  Public  Square. 
The  same  year  saw  the  solution  of  the  problem  of 
electric  lighting  by  Charles  F.  Brush,  a  Cleveland 
citizen,  who  perfected  the  dynamo  that  is  the  founda- 
tion of  the  lighting  system  known  by  his  name  the 
world  over.  In  the  course  of  time  the  Stone  Church 
and  other  down-town  buildings  were  flooded  during 
the  night  by  light  from  clusters  of  Brush  lamps,  raised 
to  a  great  height  by  means  of  iron  masts. 

The  terrible  Ashtabula  railroad  accident  in  1876 
shocked  the  world  and  deeply  stirred  Cleveland.  Over 
one  hundred  passengers  went  suddenly  into  the  valley 
of  death,  including  Mr.  and  Mrs.  P.  P.  Bliss,  the 
evangelistic  singers.  Upon  the  Stone  Church  minutes 
are  resolutions  expressing  sympathy  with  the  bridge 
disaster  sufferers,  and  expressing  particular  sym- 
pathy for  the  family  of  the  Reverend  Dr.  A.  H.  Wash- 
burn, who  after  having  been  for  eleven  years  rector 
of  Grace  Episcopal  Church,  then  located  at  the  corner 
of  Huron  Road  and  East  Ninth  Street,  lost  his  life  at 
Ashtabula. 

Between  1872  and  1880  the  Stone  Church  sent 
forth  no  colonies  to  form  new  churches.  Although  the 
North  Presbyterian  Church  had  become  independent 
the  mother  church  still  gave  fostering  assistance.  In 
1879  Elder  S.  P.  Fenn  of  the  Stone  Church  became 
superintendent  of  the  North  Church  Sunday  School, 
and  he  served  in  that  capacity  over  twenty-five  years, 
at  the  same  time  retaining  connection  with  the  parent 


212  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

organization.  In  1878  an  opportunity  came  to  main- 
tain a  mission  Sunday  School,  which  ultimately  be- 
came the  splendid  Calvary  Presbyterian  Church. 
Prior  to  1878  a  Union  Sunday  School  had  existed  on 
Euclid  Avenue  east  of  Willson  Avenue.  Members  of 
several  churches,  among  whom  were  T.  Dwight  Eells 
and  H.  B.  Tuttle,  had  been  interested  in  the  enter- 
prise. The  growth  of  churches  along  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  city,  then  Willson  Avenue,  or  East 
Fifty-fifth  Street,  and  the  death  of  leading  workers 
finally  led  to  the  mission's  discontinuance.  In  Novem- 
ber of  1878  Dr.  Haydn  was  invited  to  reopen  the  work 
as  a  Presbyterian  enterprise.  He  gladly  accepted  the 
invitation,  as  a  providential  summons,  and  a  weekly 
prayer-meeting  was  held  in  the  wooden  chapel,  be- 
ginning the  first  Tuesday  evening  of  December,  1879. 
The  organization  of  the  Sunday  School  followed 
January  1,  1880,  with  seventy-three  persons  present, 
Mr.  L.  W.  Bingham  serving  as  superintendent.  The 
enrollment  grew  rapidly  to  two  hundred  fifty,  and  the 
old  chapel  having  been  transferred  to  the  trustees  of 
the  Stone  Church,  there  was  the  search  for  a  site,  with 
the  expectation  that  by  March  the  formation  of  an 
associate  church  would  be  consummated.  The  south- 
west corner  of  Euclid  and  Madison  Avenues  [the 
latter  now  East  Seventy-ninth  Street]  was  purchased 
by  eight  gentlemen  interested  in  the  new  enterprise, 
to  be  held  in  trust  until  subscriptions  could  be  secured 
sufficient  to  cover  the  purchase  price. 

In  a  Stone  Church  paper  Dr.  Haydn  had  this  to 
state  editorially: 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  213 

The  trustees  and  original  subscribers  to  the  Union  Chapel 
have  turned  the  building  over  to  us,  and  it  will  be  moved 
to  the  new  site  at  once  and  fitted  for  occupancy.  The 
hope  is  that  on  the  evening  of  the  first  Sunday  in  March 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  will  be  administered 
in  the  chapel  to  such  as  form  the  nucleus  of  the  associate 
church,  and  that,  thereafter,  morning  and  evening  serv- 
ices will  be  regularly  held;  also  the  Sunday  School  and 
weekly  meeting.  It  may  be  said  that  the  school  has 
steadily  increased.  To  own  the  lot  and  its  equipment  will 
cost  about  312,000.  Of  this  amount  37,430  has  been  sub- 
scribed. We  do  not  know  where  the  rest  is  to  come  from. 
We  walk  by  faith  as  to  that,  but  we  hope  by  September 
1st,  if  not  sooner,  to  be  free  from  debt.  It  would  be  a 
great  favor  to  the  pastor,  if  such  as  can  help  in  this  work 
would  do  so  without  waiting  to  be  called  upon.  What 
time  is  spent  in  raising  money  cannot  be  given  to  making 
sermons. 

Thus  toward  the  close  of  Dr.  Haydn's  first  pastor- 
ate there  came  the  inception  of  the  mission,  which  in 
the  second  settlement  he  had  the  pleasure  of  guiding 
into  the  ultimate  formation  of  the  Calvary  Presby- 
terian Church. 

Military  organizations  in  Cleveland  revived  in  1877, 
when  the  Fifteenth  Regiment  of  Ohio  National  Guard, 
composed  of  ten  companies,  the  Cleveland  Gatling 
Gun  Company,  and  the  First  City  Troop  were  formed. 
That  summer  it  looked  as  though  these  military  com- 
panies would  be  needed,  for  the  great  railroad  strike 
of  that  year  was  most  destructive  to  property.  The 
work  of  a  Pittsburgh  mob  gave  great  apprehension  in 
other  cities,  to  which  the  trouble  swiftly  spread.  For- 
tunately   Cleveland    escaped    a    reign    of   violence, 


214  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

although  the  strike  reached  the  city  July  22,  1877.  In 
police  stations,  armories,  and  other  places  the  police, 
militia,  independent  companies,  and  even  veterans  of 
the  Civil  War  were  held  for  days,  prepared  for  the 
worst,  but  not  making  any  public  appearance  upon 
the  streets  or  near  railroad  property.  The  strike  was 
finally  settled,  and  Cleveland  had  neither  reasons  for 
regret  nor  damages  to  settle.  A  far  more  pleasing 
event  stirred  Cleveland  in  1878,  when  there  was  the 
celebration  of  the  completion  of  the  Superior  Viaduct, 
the  first  high-level  bridge  to  span  the  Cuyahoga  Val- 
ley and  to  bind  in  closer  unity  the  east  and  west  sides. 
This  structure  was  opened  to  the  public  December  27, 
1878,  after  more  than  four  years  had  been  consumed 
in  building  at  a  cost  of  two  million  one  hundred  seven- 
ty thousand  dollars. 

The  first  steps  were  taken  in  1879  to  form  the  Early 
Settlers'  Association,  an  organization  second  only  in 
influence  to  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society. 
"Father"  Addison,  a  well-known  pioneer,  proposed 
the  association,  but  at  first  he  received  no  encourage- 
ment, until  he  went  to  the  home  of  Elder  George  My- 
gatt  of  the  Stone  Church.  His  was  the  first  signature 
to  Father  Addison's  petition,  whereupon  Charles 
Whittlesey,  John  A.  Foot,  Samuel  Wilhamson,  Richard 
C.  Parsons,  Sherlock  J.  Andrews,  William  Bingham 
and  other  prominent  Stone  Church  people  signed  the 
call  for  the  first  meeting,  held  November  19,  1879. 

Prior  to  the  fall  of  1879  leading  pastors  and  Chris- 
tian laymen  of  Cleveland  had  expressed  a  desire  to 
inaugurate  an  evangelistic  campaign,  under  the  lead- 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  215 

ership  of  Moody  and  Sankey,  whose  fame  had  already 
become  world-wide.  Soon  after  the  return  of  pastors 
in  September  from  their  summer  vacations,  a  meeting 
of  clergymen  was  held,  and  Dr.  Haydn  reported  "for 
the  committee  appointed  to  negotiate  with  and 
arrange  for  a  visit  of  Moody  and  Sankey  to  Cleve- 
land." 

After  strong  persuasion  the  two  evangelists,  who 
evidently  had  received  far  more  important  invitations 
than  they  could  accept,  agreed  to  spend  October  in 
Cleveland.  Dr.  Haydn  declined  to  serve  as  chairman 
of  the  executive  committee  on  account  of  the  extra 
burden  that  the  Stone  Church  would  have  to  bear  in 
the  series  of  meetings.  Probably  no  church  edifice  in 
the  city  has  welcomed  within  its  walls  as  many  popu- 
lar gatherings,  interdenominational  and  undenomi- 
national, as  well  as  denominational,  as  has  the  church 
on  the  Public  Square. 

The  Reverend  J.  Lovejoy  Robertson  of  the  Euclid 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  served  as  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  arrangements,  and  prominently 
associated  with  the  three  down-town  pastors,  Drs. 
H.  C.  Haydn,  Chas.  S.  Pomeroy,  and  J.  L.  Robertson, 
were  the  Reverend  Dr.  J.  E.  Twitchell,  of  the  Euclid 
Avenue  Congregational  Church;  the  Reverend  Phil- 
lip Moxom,  of  the  First  Baptist  Church;  and  the 
Reverend  Charles  Terry  Collins,  D.D.,  of  the  Plym- 
outh Congregational  Church. 

The  Reverend  S.  E.  Wishard,  D.D.,  a  professional 
evangelist,  and  Professor  William  Johnson,  a  gospel 
singer,  were  already  laboring  in  parts  of  the  city.  At 


216  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

a  meeting  of  pastors  held  October  3,  1879,  for  con- 
ference and  prayer,  Dr.  H.  C.  Haydn  delivered  an 
address  upon  *'The  Necessity  of  the  Holy  Spirit's 
Work  in  a  True  Revival  of  Religion."  Wishard  and 
Johnson  conducted  noon  meetings  in  the  Stone 
Church  until  the  opening  of  the  campaign. 

The  first  Sunday  in  October  afternoon  and  evening 
meetings  were  held  in  the  Peoples'  Tabernacle  on 
Ontario  Street.  Mr.  Moody  introduced  his  musical 
assistant  by  saying: 

I  will  now  ask  Mr.  Sankey  to  sing,  "The  Ninety  and  Nine." 
He  might  as  well  begin  with  that  at  once  and  keep  it 
up.  It  is  a  hymn  that  will  never  wear  out.  It  is  the  15th 
chapter  of  Luke  put  into  song. 

Overflow  meetings  were  held  that  Sunday  in  the 
Stone  Church.  The  afternoon  service  was  conducted 
by  local  pastors  and  by  Mr.  Sankey,  who  returned 
to  the  Tabernacle  for  his  part  in  song.  At  the  evening 
overflow  meeting  the  famous  Joseph  Cook  of  Boston 
and  Mr.  Sankey  spoke. 

During  the  whole  campaign  noonday  meetings,  of 
an  hour's  duration,  were  held  in  the  Stone  Church, 
and  there  each  afternoon  Mr.  Moody  gave  Bible 
lectures.  Even  after  the  weekday  evening  meetings, 
workers  from  the  Tabernacle  sought  the  church  for 
seasons  of  prayer.  Services  for  men  were  also  held 
occasionally  in  the  church,  so  that  it  was  used  several 
times  daily  and  frequently  packed  to  its  utmost 
capacity. 

The  Cleveland  papers  gave  full  accounts  of  the 
evangelistic  efforts.    Mr.  Moody  was  a  very  rapid 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  217 

speaker,  often  compared  in  this  respect  with  PhilHps 
Brooks  of  Boston.  Minute  transcript  of  their  sermons 
had  long  been  the  despair  of  stenographers,  but  in 
Cleveland  Moody's  discourses  were  taken  in  short- 
hand by  Henry  J.  Davies,  in  later  years  prominently 
connected  with  the  traction  system  of  Cleveland.  A 
volume  of  the  discourses  was  published  by  The  Bur- 
rows Brothers  Company. 

Marked  is  the  difference  between  the  Moody  and 
Sankey  evangelistic  campaigns  and  those  of  recent 
years.  Absolutely  nothing  was  heralded,  for  example, 
regarding  the  financial  side  of  the  Moody  and  Sankey 
meetings,  all  business  arrangements  having  been 
quietly  made  by  those  in  charge,  while  no  emphasis 
was  given  to  the  number  of  converts.  Mr.  Moody 
drew  the  net  carefully,  without  summoning  members 
and  non-communicants  alike  "to  hit  the  sawdust 
trail,"  or  to  sign  cards.  Into  ''inquiry  rooms"  con- 
nected with  the  auditorium  those  who  had  been 
moved  by  the  evangelist's  appeals  were  invited  to 
retire,  there  to  hold  conferences  with  earnest  Chris- 
tian workers. 

Throughout  the  month  the  meetings  waxed  in  in- 
terest, hundreds  coming  by  train  from  neighboring 
places,  and  at  the  close  of  the  four  weeks  the  crowds 
would  have  continued  both  in  the  Tabernacle  and 
the  Stone  Church.  Mr.  Moody  and  his  associate 
agreed  to  remain  an  extra  week,  but  instead  of  con- 
tinuing in  the  centralized  places  various  parts  of  the 
city  were  selected  for  closing  efi^orts.  After  a  rally  in 
the  Stone  Church,  the  First  M.  E.  Church,  the  Frank- 


218  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

lin  Avenue  M.  E.  Church  on  the  West  Side,  and  the 
Woodland  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  were  visited, 
and  then  the  farewell  services  were  held  Sunday  in 
the  Euclid  Avenue  Congregational  Church.  This  plan 
was  the  inverse  of  the  later  Mills  evangelistic  meet- 
ings, which  commenced  in  the  East  End;  were  then 
transferred  to  the  West  Side  and  finally  sought  a 
climax  in  the  center  of  the  city. 

Which  of  the  two  evangelists  was  the  more  effec- 
tive, Moody  in  his  preaching,  or  Sankey  with  his 
songs,  it  was  difficult  to  decide.  They  were  remark- 
ably united  in  exerting  wholesome  influences  over 
audiences.  God's  love  revealed  to  the  world  through 
Christ  was  the  central  theme  of  both  preacher  and 
singer.  One  evening  Mr.  Sankey  sang  a  hymn  which 
had  been  found  in  the  trunk  of  Mr.  P.  P.  Bliss,  whose 
life  went  out  in  the  Ashtabula  disaster.  Probably  "The 
Ninety  and  Nine"  and  "Where  is  my  Wandering  Boy 
Tonight  ?"  were  as  effective  as  any  of  Sankey's  songs. 

Following  this  evangelistic  campaign  all  the 
churches  received  large  additions.  The  "Narrative  of 
Religion"  read  at  the  spring  meeting  of  Cleveland 
Presbytery,  April,  1880,  had  this  optimistic  record 
relative  to  the  Stone  Church: 

The  First  Church  of  Cleveland,  the  mother  of  so  many 
of  us,  declares  the  year  to  have  been  one  of  unusual  pros- 
perity. One  hundred  and  forty-six  have  been  added  to 
her  communion  list,  ninety-four  on  confession  of  their 
faith.  There  have  been  900  under  Bible  teaching  at 
various  hours  of  the  week.  Prayer-meetings  at  the  church 
and  cottage  prayer-meetings  have  been  full  and  interest- 
ing; mission   bands  organized   and   working;  the  life  of 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  219 

piety  in  many  deepened  and  quickened.  Every  old  center 
of  activity  is  held  and  a  new  one  maintained  on  Euclid 
Avenue,  the  first  recognition  in  Presbytery  of  an  enter- 
prise that  shall  at  no  distant  day  have  a  name  and  stand- 
ing among  us. 

As  Dr.  Haydn's  first  Cleveland  pastorate  was  draw- 
ing to  a  close  two  exceedingly  important  educational 
movements  were  inaugurated,  in  one  of  which  at  least 
Dr.  Haydn  wielded  great  influence.  It  is  not  claimed 
that  Leonard  Case,  Jr.,  the  founder  of  Case  School  of 
Applied  Science,  was  a  Presbyterian.  Leonard  Case, 
Sr.,  had  been  identified  with  the  early  fostering  of  the 
Stone  Church,  and  the  son  had  been  a  warm  personal 
friend  of  Dr.  Goodrich.  Until  the  day  of  his  death 
Leonard  Case,  Jr.,  was  a  pewholder  in  the  Stone 
Church.  Leonard  Case,  Sr.,  born  in  Pennsylvania, 
resided  in  early  manhood  at  Warren,  Ohio.  Admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1814  he  came  to  Cleveland  in  1816  to 
become  cashier  of  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Lake  Erie. 
His  two  sons  were  William  and  Leonard  Case,  Jr.  The 
former  held  public  oflftces  and  was  mayor  of  Cleveland 
from  1850  to  1852.  Leonard  Case,  Jr.,  graduated 
from  Yale  College  in  1842  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  but  as  a  semi-recluse  compared  with  the  public 
activities  of  his  father  and  brother,  he  became  espe- 
cially interested  in  mathematical  studies. 

Never  having  married,  the  bulk  of  his  estate,  largely 
inherited,  went  at  the  time  of  his  death,  January  6, 
1880,  to  the  founding  of  a  scientific  school.  Property 
like  the  City  Hall  and  site  on  Superior  Street,  the  old 
Case  residence  nearby,  and  "Case  Commons,"  sup- 


220  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

posed  for  some  time  to  be  the  destined  site  of  the  Case 
School  of  AppUed  Science,  were  given  for  the  estab- 
Hshing  of  that  institution.  The  school  commenced 
operations  in  the  old  Leonard  Case  homestead  on 
Rockwell  Street  near  the  Public  Square,  and  there 
remained  until  transferred  in  1885  to  the  joint  cam- 
pus now  occupied  by  Case  School  and  Adelbert  Col- 
lege of  Western  Reserve  University. 

After  the  resignation  in  1871  of  the  Reverend 
Henry  L.  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  president  of  Western 
Reserve  College,  Hudson,  Ohio,  Professor  Carroll 
Cutler  of  the  faculty  reluctantly  accepted  the  presi- 
dency, but  in  1874  he  insisted  upon  the  acceptance 
of  his  resignation.  The  position  was  then  tendered 
to  one  of  the  trustees,  the  Reverend  Hiram  Collins 
Haydn,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church.  This 
proffer  was  declined  and  Professor  Cutler  consented 
to  continue  in  charge  until  1876,  when  unable  to 
secure  the  president  which  the  trustees  thought  the 
college  ought  to  obtain.  Professor  Carroll  Cutler, 
after  a  year's  absence  in  Europe,  again  became  presi- 
dent. 

The  Honorable  Richard  C.  Parsons,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Stone  Church,  having  purchased  the 
Cleveland  Herald,  strongly  urged,  in  an  editorial  of 
December  13,  1877,  the  removal  of  Western  Reserve 
College  to  Cleveland,  suggesting  that  wealthy  citi- 
zens should  embrace  the  opportunity  of  refounding 
the  old  college  in  a  city,  destined  to  become  the  seat 
of  a  great  university.  There  was  also  the  persistent 
rumor  that  John  D.  Rockefeller  might  found  in  Cleve- 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  221 

land  the  university  which  afterwards  he  estabHshed 
in  Chicago. 

In  1878  Dr.  Haydn  read  a  paper  before  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  Western  Reserve  College,  regarding 
the  possibility  of  removing  the  institution  from  Hud- 
son to  Cleveland.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
study  carefully  the  problem  and  to  report  later  to 
the  board.  For  two  years  this  committee  held 
sessions,  but  not  until  March  3,  1880,  was  any  definite 
headway  made.  Then  was  it  that  Dr.  Haydn  in  the 
capacity  of  a  trustee  sought  to  ascertain  for  some 
unknown  party,  whether  or  not  the  board  of  trustees 
would  favor  the  removal  of  the  college,  in  case  the 
necessary  funds  were  forthcoming;  and  in  addition 
what  amount  the  board  would  deem  sufficient.  For 
two  years  Dr.  Haydn  had  evidently  placed  before  Mr. 
Amasa  Stone,  a  Cleveland  citizen  of  large  influence 
in  practical  affairs,  a  civil  engineer  by  education,  and 
a  pioneer  in  the  construction  of  railroads  and  tele- 
graph systems,  the  founding  of  a  college  in  Cleveland 
which  would  become  the  worthy  memorial  of  an  only 
and  gifted  son,  drowned  a  few  years  before  while 
attending  Yale  University. 

Mr.  Amasa  Stone  was  a  trustee  of  the  Stone  Church; 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Samuel  Mather,  was  throughout 
life  a  consecrated  member  of  that  church;  while 
another  daughter  was  the  wife  of  the  late  Honorable 
John  Hay.  It  had  now  become  a  question  either  of 
founding  an  entirely  new  university  in  Cleveland, 
or  of  the  removal  of  the  historic  Western  Reserve 


222  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

College  from  Hudson  to  Cleveland,  there  to  become 
the  nucleus  of  a  far  greater  institution. 

The  sudden  death  of  Leonard  Case,  Jr.,  January  6, 
1880,  at  once  brought  the  whole  educational  problem 
to  a  head.  There  came  now  the  opportunity  of  locat- 
ing the  academic  college  and  the  polytechnical  school 
in  such  proximity,  in  the  eastern  part  of  Cleveland, 
that  the*  nucleus  of  a  great  educational  center  might 
be  established.  The  services  rendered  by  Dr.  Haydn 
in  this  important  movement  came  as  a  fitting  climax 
to  his  first  pastorate  in  the  Stone  Church,  but  in  time 
it  proved  to  have  been  only  the  beginning  of  greater 
educational  influence  exerted  during  his  second  settle- 
ment in  Cleveland. 

Dr.  Haydn  delivered  on  January  25,  1880,  a  "De- 
cennial Sermon,"  dealing  with  the  work  of  the  Stone 
Church  from  1870  to  1880,  including  his  eight  years 
of  service.  Reference  was  made  to  religious  and  chari- 
table work,  such  as  the  formation  of  the  Friendly  Inn, 
the  new  Huron  Street  Hospital,  the  appropriation  of 
the  Marine  Hospital  for  the  basis  of  what  developed 
into  Lakeside  Hospital,  the  Home  for  Aged  Women 
on  Kennard  Street,  the  new  Protestant  Orphan  Asy- 
lum, the  promised  Industrial  Home,  and  the  Uni- 
versity, in  all  of  which  charitable  enterprises  members 
of  the  Stone  Church  had  been  leading  patrons. 

During  the  decade  new  edifices  had  been  dedicated 
by  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal,  St.  Paul's  Epis- 
copal, Second  Presbyterian,  and  Woodland  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Churches.  The  old  Central  High  School, 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  223 

on  Euclid  Avenue  near  East  Ninth  Street,  had  entered 
in  1878  the  new  building  on  Willson  Avenue. 

Narrowing  his  view  to  the  life  of  the  church  he 
served,  Dr.  Haydn  stated  that  at  the  beginning  of 
the  decade  there  had  been  five  hundred  seventy-four 
members.  During  the  ten  years  Dr.  Goodrich,  the 
senior  pastor,  Dr.  Aiken,  the  pastor  emeritus,  and 
eighty-eight  members  had  passed  from  the  com- 
munion of  saints  on  earth  to  that  above;  while  three 
hundred  twenty  members  had  been  dismissed  to  other 
churches.  On  confession  of  their  faith  three  hundred 
sixty-eight  had  been  received,  and  two  hundred 
ninety-seven  by  letters,  making  a  total  of  six  hundred 
sixty-five  welcomed  during  the  decade.  This  left  the 
membership  of  eight  hundred  six  whose  residences 
were  known,  or  eight  hundred  eighty-seven,  including 
non-resident  members.  During  the  decade  one  hun- 
dred forty-six  thousand  two  hundred  ninety-seven 
dollars  had  been  raised  for  benevolences,  and  one 
hundred  thirty  thousand  one  hundred  seventy-six 
dollars  for  congregational  expenses,  or  a  total  of  two 
hundred  seventy-six  thousand  four  hundred  seventy- 
five  dollars.  In  addition  Stone  Church  members 
had  made  special  gifts  whose  amounts  could  not  be 
statistically  exhibited. 

Having  dwelt  upon  the  encouraging  side,  Dr.  Haydn 
concluded: 

But  there  are  also  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrefying 
sores  which  we  do  not  care  to  parade.  From  recent  police 
reports  there  are  at  this  time  in  this  city  1,288  saloons, 
and  other  organized  establishments  devoted  to  the  ruin 


224  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

of  life  and  character  make  a  total  of  1,464  demoralizing 
institutions.  In  1870  the  saloons  outwardly  respected  the 
Sabbath,  but  they  show  now  no  respect  for  the  Lord's 
day.  But  what  of  the  church  of  1890?  The  growth  of 
population  is  eastward  beyond  Willson  Avenue  [East 
Fifty-fifth  Street],  This  is  what  was  to  have  been  ex- 
pected. Nothing  can  stay  this  tendency.  I  wish  to  ask 
whether  our  outlying  constituency  inheriting  a  history  of 
sixty  years,  linked  with  the  growth  of  this  city,  wish  to 
drop  like  so  many  pebbles  into  the  deep  of  other  com- 
munions, or  will  they  hold  together  till,  at  some  day  not 
far  distant,  they  can  perpetuate  their  connection  with 
the  First  Church,  in  another  strong,  self-sustaining  organi- 
zation. To  me  it  seems  a  far  grander  thing  to  build  a  light- 
house than  to  fall  like  so  many  pebbles  into  the  deep. 
This  church  has  been  the  mother  of  churches,  and  her 
record  of  this  sort  ought  not  to  be  finished.  It  is  altogether 
a  mistake  to  imagine  that  in  any  probable  event  this 
church  is  to  dwindle  on  this  site.  The  work  to  be  done 
here  is  not  growing  less,  but  constantly  increasing.  The 
call  of  providence  seems  to  be  clear  and  well-defined.  We 
have  only  to  hold  together  on  two  sites  [Old  Stone  and 
Calvary],  instead  of  one,  loyal  to  Christ  and  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Him,  with  full  faith  in  the  abiding  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  give  the  increase,  to  see  yet  more  blessed 
fruits  of  our  labors,  and  to  make  ourselves  more  widely 
felt  for  good. 

To  the  Presbyterian  Union  organized  in  1870  for  the 
purpose  of  fostering  financially  new  Presbyterian 
church  enterprises  within  the  city,  both  Dr.  Goodrich 
and  Dr.  Haydn  gave  much  time  and  inspiration. 

During  the  earlier  pastorate  of  Dr.  Haydn  the 
Stone  Church  Session  was  composed  of  Elders  George 
Mygatt,  Francis  C.  Keith,  Dr.  Norman  Sackrider, 
Warren  G.  Stedman,  John  A.  Foot,  Edward  H.  Mer- 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  225 

rill,  Joseph  Sargeant,  Reuben  F.  Smith,  George  H. 
Ely,  Henry  M.  Raymond,  Henry  M.  Flagler,  Lyman 
J.  Talbot,  and  Edwin  C.  Higbee.  Elders  Reuben  F. 
Smith,  Lyman  J.  Talbot  and  Henry  M.  Raymond 
served  successively  as  clerks  of  session  during  the 
decade. 

During  the  ten  years  all  the  church  organizations 
flourished.  In  1873  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  became  an  auxiliary  of  the  general  Presby- 
terial  Society.  Miss  Sarah  Fitch  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  to  draft  the  constitution.  Mrs.  H.  C. 
Haydn  became  the  president  of  the  new  society  and 
served  for  seven  years.  Mrs.  Proctor  Thayer  served 
as  secretary  eight  years;  while  Mrs.  John  A.  Foot  was 
treasurer  for  fourteen  years,  or  almost  to  the  time  of 
her  death.  This  missionary  society  gave  Miss  Sellers 
a  farewell  reception  in  1874,  and  a  substantial  outfit 
as  she  went  to  China. 

Miss  Mary  Goodrich  organized  in  1875  "The 
Young  Missionaries,"  a  society  of  boys,  and  the  same 
year  her  sister.  Miss  Fanny  Goodrich,  formed  a  girls' 
missionary  society,  known  as  "The  Helping  Hands." 
which  finally  became  the  "Haydn  Circle."  Later  the 
"Sarah  Fitch  Band"  was  organized. 

The  Young  Ladies'  Missionary  Society  continued 
to  flourish.  Under  the  counsel  and  inspiration  of  Dr. 
Haydn,  the  Ladies'  Society  was  led  to  even  greater 
activity;  while  the  Sunday  School  and  the  Young 
Peoples'  Society  were  strengthened. 

Between  1870  and  1880  the  mother  church  of 
Cleveland's  Presbyterian  churches  began  to  see  her 


226  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

children  beget  in  turn  new  religious  enterprises.  The 
Second  Church  fostered,  mainly  through  the  gener- 
osity of  Elder  Dan  P.  Eells,  a  Sunday  School  which 
grew  into  the  Willson  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 
A  slight  friction  arose  between  the  session  of  the 
Second  and  that  of  the  Stone  Church,  over  the  pro- 
posed moving  of  the  North  Church  from  Aaron  Street 
to  its  present  site,  but  this  ended  in  amicable  under- 
standing, the  Willson  Avenue  Church  moving  farther 
south  away  from  Superior  Street.  The  Woodland 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in  1872 
with  fifty-four  charter  members,  twenty-eight  from 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Euclid  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  another 
child  of  the  Stone  Church,  had  been  fostering  a  mis- 
sion Sunday  School,  which  became  a  church  first 
known  as  the  Memorial,  and  then  the  Case  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church.  The  first  regularly  installed 
pastor  was  the  Reverend  Francis  Allen  Horton,  who 
came  to  the  field  early  in  1874. 

On  June  19,  1880,  Dr.  Haydn  presented  to  the 
Stone  Church  Session  his  resignation.  He  had  been 
called  to  the  district  secretaryship  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  of  the 
Congregational  Church.  The  district  included  New 
York,  Ohio,  New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
Washington,  and  a  part  of  Connecticut,  with  head- 
quarters in  New  York  City.  The  invitation  had  come 
wholly  unsolicited,  and  all  who  knew  Dr.  Haydn's 
zeal   for   foreign   missions   readily   understood   how 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  227 

natural  it  had  been  for  the  American  Board  to  have 
sought  him. 

One  reason,  however,  for  the  acceptance  of  the 
secretaryship  was  that  Dr.  Haydn  felt  that  his  health 
was  in  danger  of  becoming  impaired  unless  there  came 
release  from  pastoral  cares.  The  Stone  Church  pro- 
posed a  long  leave  of  absence,  but  at  a  joint-meeting 
of  the  session  and  board  of  trustees,  held  July  5,  1880, 
in  the  office  of  Mr.  Amasa  Stone,  Dr.  Haydn  insisted 
upon  the  acceptance  of  his  resignation,  mentioning 
at  the  same  time  a  suitable  successor.  This  was  the 
Reverend  Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  Chicago,  111.  The  officers  ac- 
cepted Dr.  Haydn's  resignation  and  appointed  Elders 
John  A.  Foot,  George  H.  Ely  and  Reuben  F.  Smith 
to  cooperate  with  a  committee  of  trustees,  in  select- 
ing a  minister  who  might  receive  the  congregation's 
approval.  At  a  meeting  of  the  congregation  held 
July  28,  1880,  there  was  formal  acceptance  of  Dr. 
Haydn's  resignation,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  invite  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  to  become  pastor. 

During  the  last  three  years  of  Dr.  Haydn's  pas- 
torate, or  from  1877  to  1880,  Mr.  B.  F.  Shuart,  a 
layman  of  rare  fitness  for  assisting  in  church  work, 
had  been  employed.  He  had  charge  of  an  afternoon 
Bible  class  in  a  mission  among  the  waifs  of  St.  Clair 
Street  near  Dodge  Street,  and  continued  this  work 
two  or  three  years,  without  any  hope  that  there  would 
develop  any  permanent  organization.  Mr.  Shuart 
afterwards  became  a  pastor  at  Billings,  Montana,  but 
by  reason  of  ill  health  he  turned  to  business  pursuits, 


228  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

in  which  he  was  successful.  He  was  a  typical  lay- 
worker  of  the  best  type. 

Having  had  this  assistance,  Dr.  Haydn  thinking 
of  the  success  of  his  successor  recommended  that  Mr. 
Rollo  Ogden,  a  recent  graduate  of  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  be  brought  to  the  field  in  July,  instead  of 
August,  as  had  been  contemplated.  This  would 
enable  the  younger  minister  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  field  prior  to  the  installment  of  a  new  pastor, 
and  so  prove  of  extra  value  to  the  latter  at  the  outset 
of  his  service  in  a  strange  congregation.  There  must 
have  been  an  additional  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the 
retiring  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church,  namely  the  for- 
mation of  the  East  Madison  Avenue  Mission,  the 
beginning  of  Calvary  Church  as  an  auxiliary  congre- 
gation. To  the  latter  the  new  assistant  might  minis- 
ter, in  addition  to  his  duties  at  the  Stone  Church. 

On  October  20,  1880,  or  twenty  days  after  the  pul- 
pit had  been  declared  vacant.  Dr.  Mitchell  signified 
his  acceptance  of  the  call.  At  an  adjourned  meeting 
of  Presbytery  held  on  Saturday,  October  30,  1880, 
Dr.  Mitchell  was  formally  received,  and  the  next 
Sunday  evening  the  installation  service  was  held.  The 
Reverend  Anson  Smyth,  D.D.,  presided;  reading  of 
Scriptures,  the  Reverend  Rollo  Ogden;  prayer,  the 
Reverend  John  A.  Seymour;  sermon,  the  Reverend 
Charles  S.  Pomeroy,  D.D.,  of  the  Second  Church; 
prayer  of  installation,  the  Reverend  Francis  A.  Hor- 
ton,  of  the  Case  Avenue  Church;  charge  to  the  pastor, 
the  Reverend  Eleroy  Curtis,  D.D.,  of  the  Miles  Park 
Church;  charge  to  the  people,  the  Reverend  J.  Love- 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  229 

joy  Robertson,  of  the  Euclid  Avenue  Church;  bene- 
diction by  the  Reverend  Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D. 

With  great  reluctance  the  Stone  Church,  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Cleveland,  Western  Reserve  College,  soon 
to  become  Adelbert  College  of  Western  Reserve  Uni- 
versity, Lake  Erie  Seminary,  and  other  institutions 
bade  farewell  to  Dr.  Haydn,  as  with  his  family  he 
removed  to  New  York  City.  In  all  of  his  friends, 
however,  there  was  implicit  confidence  that  the  de- 
parting minister  was  highly  qualified  for  the  special 
duties  to  be  assumed.  The  youngest  child  of  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Haydn,  the  daughter  Ruth,  now  the  wife  of  Dr. 
F.  W.  Hitchings,  was  born  just  prior  to  this  change 
of  residence  to  New  York  City.  The  discovery  was 
also  made  that  the  Stone  Church  had  found  in  the 
Reverend  Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D.,  a  pastor  whose 
flaming  zeal  for  the  task  of  prosecuting  the  work  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  at  home  and  abroad,  was  scarcely 
second  to  the  enthusiasm  of  his  predecessor. 

To  the  centennial  church  historian  the  relatively 
brief  settlement  of  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  in  the  Stone 
Church  of  Cleveland  seems  to  have  been  a  most  provi- 
dential binding  together  of  the  shorter  and  longer 
pastorates  of  Dr.  Haydn,  and  in  such  continuity  of 
spirit  that  there  was  practically  no  interruption  in 
the  rounded  service  that  the  Reverend  Hiram 
Collins  Haydn,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  rendered  both  to  the 
religious  and  educational  welfare  of  Cleveland,  and  of 
the  whole  world. 


VIII.    PASTORATE  OF  THE   REVEREND 
ARTHUR   MITCHELL 

1880-1884 

The  comparatively  short  pastorate  of  the  Reverend 
Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D.,  in  the  Old  Stone  Church  united 
the  two  pastorates  of  Dr.  Hiram  C.  Haydn  in  pecu- 
liar continuity  of  spiritual  results.  Dr.  Mitchell 
served  the  Cleveland  parish  only  four  years,  and  like 
one  of  his  predecessors,  the  Reverend  William  H. 
Goodrich,  D.D.,  he  died  before  sixty  years  of  age. 
Born  at  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  August  13,  1835,  he  repre- 
sented to  a  rare  degree  that  gentle,  charitable  spirit 
of  his  Quaker  ancestors.  His  boyhood  days  having 
been  passed  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  he  entered  Wil- 
liams College  when  a  mere  lad,  and  graduated  before 
eighteen  years  of  age. 

From  earliest  life  his  peculiarly  frank,  open  coun- 
tenance won  the  confidence  of  all,  and  the  almost 
boyish  face  was  his  to  the  end.  Even  when  a  grand- 
father he  had  neither  wrinkles  nor  gray  hairs,  and 
upon  first  meeting,  strangers  were  wont  to  express 
surprise  that  this  **dark-haired  young  man"  was  Dr. 
Mitchell. 

Notwithstanding  the  blessings  of  a  religious  birth- 
right, he  treasured  a  very  distinct  Christian  experi- 
ence received  during  college  days,  and  when  he  turned 
from  what  seemed  to  have  been  a  tinge  of  skepticism 


232  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

there  was  no  half-way  surrender  in  his  acceptance  of 
Christ.  At  once  he  asked  his  Master,  "What  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do?"  For  professional  preparation 
he  did  not  wait,  in  order  to  enter  true  Christian  serv- 
ice, a  good  field  for  immediate  action  having  been 
found  within  the  college  itself.  Although  the  youngest 
member  of  his  class,  small  of  stature  and  boyish  in 
appearance,  he  sought  earnestly  to  win  souls.  A  sen- 
sitive conscience  prompted  his  resignation  from  a 
Greek  letter  fraternity,  lest  any  limited  relationships 
impair  his  Christian  influence. 

No  better  field  for  practical  Christian  life  and  serv- 
ice could  have  been  found  than  Williams  College, 
during  the  presidency  of  Mark  Hopkins,  assisted  as 
that  famous  educator  was  by  his  brother,  Professor 
Albert  Hopkins.  Throughout  life  Dr.  Mitchell  ex- 
pressed gratitude  for  having  enjoyed  the  influence  of 
the  noted  college  president,  whose  balanced  intellec- 
tual and  moral  greatness  continued  to  all  Williams 
graduates  a  grand  inspiration. 

Although  having  the  ministry  in  view  young 
Mitchell,  after  graduation  from  college  in  1853, 
tutored  at  Lafayette  College.  He  was  young  enough 
to  wait,  and  wholesome  discipline  was  received 
through  the  teaching  experience.  With  his  intimate 
college  friend,  Charles  A.  Stoddard,  afterwards  editor 
of  the  New  York  Observer,  an  extensive  tour  in  the 
Levant  was  enjoyed,  and  many  Biblical  scenes  and 
mission  stations  of  Egypt  and  Syria  were  visited. 

Such  early  observation  of  practical  missionary  work 
was  a  splendid  beginning  of  the  fervent  support  of 


ArTHL  R   MlTCliELL 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  235 

foreign  missions,  exhibited  during  the  four  pastorates 
of  his  ministerial  career.  While  residing  with  his 
parents  in  New  York  City,  Arthur  Mitchell  attended 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  and  combined  study 
with  most  practical  service  in  Sunday  School,  revival 
and  other  church  activities.  Having  always  been 
fond  of  music  he  led  the  choir  in  the  Fourth  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church,  under  the  pastorate  of  the 
Reverend  Joel  Parker,  D.D. 

Soon  after  graduation  from  Union  Seminary  in  1859 
he  married  Miss  Harriet  E.  Post,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Alfred  Post,  and  became  pastor  of  the  Third  Presby- 
terian Church,  Richmond,  Va.,  where  he  remained 
until  May,  186L  The  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War 
torced  a  return  to  New  York  City.  In  the  task 
of  conveying  his  family  across  the  lines  he  reached 
the  Union  Army,  just  as  it  was  entering  Baltimore  on 
that  famous  April  19,  1861.  To  his  southern  parish 
he  then  returned,  but  the  issues  of  the  war  soon  forced 
him,  not  without  considerable  peril,  to  press  through 
the  lines  northward. 

The  Confederate  government  confiscated  all  house- 
hold goods,  but  that  did  not  prevent  his  returning  to 
Richmond  at  the  close  of  the  war,  with  relief  for 
former  parishioners  whom  the  conflict  had  impover- 
ished. In  the  brief  Richmond  pastorate  zeal  for  mis- 
sionary endeavor  at  once  manifested  itself  in  the 
formation  of  organizations  which  increased  many 
fold  congregational  benevolences. 

The  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Morristown, 
N.  J.,  was  Dr.  ArthurMitchelFs  next  pastorate.  There 


236  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

similar  results  were  produced,  without  unwise  dis- 
proportion in  pulpit  ministrations.  Hearty  support 
was  given  every  form  of  benevolence,  and  his  preach- 
ing aimed  at  both  the  winning  of  souls  and  the  edi- 
fication of  believers;  still  the  pastor  felt  that  the 
world's  complete  redemption  was  broad  and  sublime 
enough  to  be  made  a  ministerial  hobby. 

After  seven  years'  service  in  the  New  Jersey  field, 
Dr.  Mitchell  was  called  to  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Chicago.   In  accepting  the  call  he  wrote: 

Upon  one  point  allow  me  a  frank  word:  I  fear  that  in  a 
congregation  of  the  size  of  yours  I  shall  not  be  able  to 
maintain  that  system  of  general  visitation  which  some 
pastors  have  strength  to  observe,  and  which  I  know  is 
of  the  utmost  usefulness. 

While  yet  a  young  man  for  such  a  charge  he  rose  to 
commanding  influence  not  only  in  the  parish,  but 
also  throughout  the  city.  His  foreign  missionary  zeal 
surprised  many  business  men  in  his  congregation,  but 
a  church  shepherded  by  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  had  but 
one  of  two  things  to  do,  either  to  become  a  mission- 
ary force  at  home  and  abroad,  or  to  secure  a  different 
pastor.  So  impressed  became  he  in  one  sermon  by  the 
thought  of  the  wealth  and  luxurious  equipages  of  cer- 
tain parishioners  that  by  way  of  climax  he  exclaimed, 
"Why,  some  of  you  drive  a  missionary  down  town 
every  morning  as  you  go  to  business."  This  assertion 
caused  one  startled  capitalist  to  whisper  to  another, 
''Let  us  unite  in  sending  that  missionary." 

Let  it  not  be  thought  that  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell 
played  on  a  "harp  of  one  string."    To  the  city's 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  237 

neglected  classes  he  gave  attention  and  the  frontier 
home  fields  did  not  escape  scientific  scrutiny.  While 
only  five  feet  six  inches  in  height,  with  dark-brown 
hair  and  eyes  and  a  kindly  face,  which  fairly  glowed 
with  enthusiasm  whenever  interested  in  a  theme,  and 
while  aptly  termed  "the  gentle  Prince  Arthur,"  in 
fighting  wrong  he  could  exhibit  the  courage  of  a  lion. 

Keen  interest  in  municipal  afi^airs  was  shown  by  his 
regular  attendance  upon  primaries,  by  personal  work 
at  the  polls,  and  by  sermons  dealing  with  the  respon- 
sibilities of  good  citizenship.  At  an  election  held  in 
Chicago  April  4,  1876,  three  disreputable  candidates 
for  oflfice,  by  means  of  illegal  votes,  had  declared 
themselves  elected.  When  the  result  was  contested 
by  a  citizens'  committee,  Dr.  Mitchell  gave  such  posi- 
tive testimony  regarding  the  ballot-box  tampering 
that  the  election  was  declared  invalid.  The  Chicago 
Tribune  at  that  time  mentioned  him  as  the  'iittle 
dominie  of  admirable  resources,  a  clergyman  who 
knew  how  to  act  and  how  to  preach  about  an  emer- 
gency." 

With  this  admirable  record  the  Chicago  pastor  was 
recommended  by  Dr.  Haydn,  and  in  1880  with 
scarcely  any  break  in  pastoral  leadership  the  work 
of  the  Stone  Church  continued  to  prosper  under  the 
guidance  of  this  little  giant. 

At  the  commencement  of  Dr.  Mitchell's  Cleveland 
pastorate.  Calvary  Mission  had  developed  to  such  an 
extent  that  Joseph  E.  Upson  and  L.  W.  Bingham 
were  added  to  the  Stone  Church  Session,  with  partic- 
ular reference  to  their  connection  with  the  mission. 


238  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  Reverend  Rollo  Ogden  continuing  as  assistant 
pastor  in  charge. 

Although  the  North  Presbyterian  Church  had  be- 
come independent,  it  still  received  fostering  advice 
from  the  Stone  Church  Session.  The  latter  met  with 
the  session  of  the  North  Church  to  discuss  the  calling 
of  the  Reverend  William  Gaston  from  Bellaire,  Ohio. 
The  North  Church  obligated  itself  to  fumfsh  seven 
hundred  dollars  of  the  pastor's  annual  salary  of 
twelve  hundred  dollars,  and  the  Stone  Church  Session 
recommended  to  the  Presbyterian  Union  the  pay- 
ment of  the  additional  five  hundred  dollars. 

The  Stone  Church  in  April  of  1881  reported  to 
Cleveland  Presbytery  eight  hundred  forty-six  mem- 
bers; congregational  expenses  ten  thousand  three 
hundred  eighty-five  dollars,  and  miscellaneous  gifts 
amounting  to  eighteen  thousand  two  hundred  eighty- 
two  dollars.  The  Sunday  School,  of  which  Elder 
Edwin  C.  Higbee  was  superintendent,  had  four  hun- 
dred forty-seven  pupils;  Calvary  Mission,  Elder  L. 
W.  Bingham,  superintendent,  three  hundred  fourteen; 
while  the  St.  Clair  Mission,  A.  H.  Potter,  superin- 
tendent, had  one  hundred  sixteen,  or  a  total  of  eight 
hundred  seventy-seven  pupils  in  the  three  schools. 

The  Reverend  Rollo  Ogden,  who  had  married  the 
eldest  daughter  of  the  senior  pastor,  resigned  June 
10,  1881,  in  order  that  his  bride  and  he  might  enter 
foreign  missionary  work  in  Mexico.  At  the  same  time 
Elder  George  Mygatt,  who  had  served  thirty-four 
years  as  a  member  of  the  session,  and  who  had  also 
been  for  twenty  years  treasurer  of  the  church,  re- 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  239 

signed  both  official  positions  on  account  of  advancing 
years.  The  resignation  as  treasurer  was  accepted,  but 
the  church  insisted  upon  this  honored  official  con- 
tinuing an  elder  until  the  time  of  his  death  in  April 
of  1885. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  faithful  members  and  offi- 
cials ever  connected  with  the  Stone  Church.  Born  in 
Connecticut  in  1797,  his  parents  removed  in  1807  to 
northern  Ohio.  After  having  engaged  in  the  banking 
business  at  Norwalk  and  Painesville,  Mr.  Mygatt 
became  cashier  of  the  Merchants'  National  Bank  of 
Cleveland  during  the  depression  that  followed  the 
panic  of  1857.  The  late  Judge  Samuel  E.  Williamson, 
speaking  at  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  celebration, 
termed  Elder  Mygatt  a 

High  Church  Presbyterian  who  believed  that  nearly  every 
good  end  which  reform  organizations  sought  to  do 
could  be  better  reached  through  the  Christian  church. 
Is  it  sure  that  he  was  altogether  wrong? 

Soon  after  this  beloved  elder's  resignation  had  been 
declined,  he  added  at  his  own  expense  twenty  feet  to 
the  length  of  the  wooden  structure  used  by  Calvary 
Mission,  in  order  to  relieve  its  crowded  condition. 

In  1882  Elders  George  Mygatt  and  Francis  C. 
Keith  were  reelected;  while  Sereno  P.  Fenn  and 
George  I.  Vail  were  chosen  for  the  first  time  to  mem- 
bership on  the  session  of  the  Stone  Church.  Elder 
S.  P.  Fenn  has  served,  since  that  time,  a  period  of 
thirty-eight  years.  The  other  elders  at  the  beginning 
of  Dr.  Mitchell's  pastorate  were  John  A.  Foot,  Edwin 
C.  Higbee,  Reuben  F.  Smith,  George  H.  Ely,  E.  H. 


240  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Merrill,  and  Henry  M.  Raymond.  Elders  Joseph  E. 
Upson  and  L.  W.  Bingham  had  special  supervision  of 
Calvary  Mission,  and  in  addition  Messrs.  R.  J.  Fuller 
and  Seymour  F.  Adams  were  in  1883  elected  elders 
from  among  the  Calvary  constituency. 

The  Reverend  John  W.  Simpson  succeeded  Rollo 
Ogden  as  assistant  pastor,  and  as  early  as  September, 
1882,  this  assistant  presided  over  meetings  of  the 
elders  at  Calvary  Mission  when  candidates  for 
church  membership  were  examined,  their  action  to 
be  ratified  by  the  full  session. 

Some  time  in  1881  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society  cele- 
brated its  Silver  Anniversary,  and  there  was  published 
"The  History  of  the  Ladies'  Society,"  by  Mrs.  A.  W. 
Fairbanks.    Copies  of  this  anniversary  souvenir  are 
preserved  in  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society. 
Among  the  many  interesting  statements  are  these: 
As  we  turn  back  the  leaves  of  this  record,  it  is  as  if  we 
are    drinking    at    the    fountain    of   youth.     The    stately 
mothers   and   silver-haired   grandmothers  of  today  were 
the  vigorous   women   of  earlier  time.     Tenderly   do  we 
remember  those  who  have  entered  upon  that  day  that 
no    evening    ever    closes.     The    simple    calHng    of   their 
names  will  touch   the  hidden   spring  in   many  a  heart. 
Mrs.    James    Gardner,    Mrs.    Robert    Lauderdale,    Mrs. 
Louis   Stetson,   Mrs.    Mary  Carson,   Mrs.    Henrietta   D. 
Aiken,  Mrs.  Frances  Sizer,  Mrs.  Esther  Bingham,  Mrs. 
Cleopatra  Stedman,  Miss  Martha  Stair,  Mrs.  Celia  Bur- 
gart,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Raymond,  Miss  Mary  L.  Raymond, 
Mrs.  Betsey  Wooden,  Mrs.  Laura  W.  Sargent,  Mrs.  Par- 
melia    Sackrider,    Miss    Mary    Goodrich,    Mrs.    Orlando 
Cutter,  Mrs.  EHzabeth  Spencer,  Mrs.  Emeline  Compton, 
Mrs.  Emeline  Sizer,  Mrs.  Melissa  Nyce.    The  sum  total 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  241 

that  this  society  has  distributed  in  twenty-five  years  has 
been  not  less  than  ^25,000.  Perhaps  one  of  the  most 
signal  undertakings  of  this  society  was  the  opening  in  1863 
of  a  temporary  home  for  the  protection  of  friendless 
women,  and  known  as  the  Strangers'  Home.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  follow  step  by  step  the  great  chain  of 
charities  unfolded  into  a  Woman's  Home,  a  Retreat,  a 
Hospital,  a  Young  Women's  League,  an  Old  Ladies' 
Home,  and  an  Open  Door,  and  how  this  church  and 
notably  this  society  has  given  to  two  of  these  charities  the 
noble  woman,  Sarah  Fitch,  whom  they  honor  as  their 
president.  For  fifteen  years  she  was  the  honored  banker 
of  this  society.  It  has  not  been  possible  to  gather  the 
entire  list  of  those  officially  connected  with  the  society. 
Mrs.  Ursula  Andrews,  Mrs.  John  A.  Foot,  Mrs.  Samuel 
Williamson  and  Miss  Fitch  measured  their  terms  of 
service  as  presidents  by  years.  The  duties  of  secretary' 
were  successively  assigned  to  Mrs.  J.  E.  Lyon,  Mrs.  A.  G. 
Cogswell,  Mrs.  A.  W.  Fairbanks,  Mrs.  Proctor  Thayer, 
Mrs.  Henry  Raymond,  Mrs.  Geo.  H.  Ely,  Mrs.  Henry 
Johnson,  Mrs.  Charles  Whitaker,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Higbee  and 
Mrs.  H.  K.  Gushing. 

At  the  beginning  of  Dr.  Mitchell's  Cleveland  pas- 
torate the  Ontario  Street  Tabernacle,  the  gift  of  Mr. 
William  Doan,  having  been  destroyed  by  fire,  was 
superseded  by  the  Music  Hall  and  Tabernacle,  erected 
by  the  same  generous  citizen  on  Vincent  Street  near 
Erie,  now  East  Ninth  Street.  The  structure,  accom- 
modating four  thousand  three  hundred  people,  was 
used  for  religious,  educational,  and  musical  purposes, 
and  became  a  great  central  j)lace  for  many  inspiring 
gatherings. 

Cleveland  was  called  upon  a  second  time  to  pre- 
pare in  1881  a  temporary  resting-place  in  the  Public 


242  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Square  for  a  martyred  president  of  the  United  States. 
James  A.  Garfield,  although  representing  a  neighbor- 
ing congressional  district,  had  become  the  special 
pride  of  Cleveland.  Nowhere  in  the  land  had  the  news 
of  Garfield's  nomination  for  the  presidency  at  Chicago 
in  1880  been  hailed  with  greater  rejoicing  than  in 
Cleveland,  and  the  real  Garfield  headquarters  during 
the  subsequent  campaign  were  there,  although  the 
candidate  remained  for  the  greater  part  of  the  poli- 
tical battle  at  his  home  in  Mentor,  Ohio. 

When  the  shocking  news  of  the  attempted  assassin- 
ation of  President  Garfield  reached  Cleveland  July 
2,  1881,  the  city  was  plunged  into  the  deepest  grief. 
After  President  Garfield  had  passed  away  the  closing 
funeral  ceremonies  were  planned  for  Cleveland.  In 
the  Public  Square  a  pavilion  for  the  reception  of  the 
remains  was  constructed,  and  there  for  two  days  the 
body  lay  in  state.  Over  one  hundred  thousand  people 
from  all  parts  of  the  nation  came  to  witness  the  pro- 
cession to  the  tomb. 

On  Monday,  September  26,  1881,  the  funeral  cor- 
tege, five  miles  in  length,  wended  its  way  to  beautiful 
Lake  View  Cemetery,  where  afterwards  the  nation 
erected  the  mausoleum  to  which  multitudes  have 
made  pilgrimages. 

The  decade  from  1880  to  1890  was  one  of  marked 
development.  The  annexation  of  East  Cleveland  and 
Newburgh  in  the  early  part  of  the  previous  decade 
had  brought  within  the  city's  limits  many  acres  which 
were  not  allotted  until  years  later,  and  these  now 
came  into  use. 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  243 

Andrew  J.  Rickoff,  who  served  as  superintendent 
of  the  pubHc  schools  from  1867  to  1882,  had  just  com- 
pleted his  great  work  of  fundamental  organization, 
and  the  policies  and  impress  of  that  constructive  edu- 
cator continued  long  after  his  term  of  office. 

Early  in  1883  a  second  temperance  campaign  was 
waged,  whose  vigor  depended  largely  upon  the  earlier 
Woman's  Crusade.  An  amendment  had  been  pro- 
posed to  the  Constitution  of  Ohio,  prohibiting  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drink.  The  con- 
test was  popularly  known  as  the  "Second  Amend- 
ment Campaign."  With  neither  of  the  leading  polit- 
ical parties  positively  committed  to  the  moral  issue, 
the  final  vote  in  favor  of  the  measure  was  far  from 
being  disappointing.  Out  of  seven  hundred  twenty- 
one  thousand  three  hundred  ten  votes  cast,  three  hun- 
dred twenty-three  thousand  three  hundred  ten  were 
in  favor  of  the  amendment.  Considering  the  fact 
that  the  machinery  at  the  polls  by  which  the  votes 
were  counted  was  not  favorable  to  the  amendment's 
passage,  the  prohibition  vote  was  surprisingly  large. 

One  of  the  leading  liquor  dealers  in  Cleveland  issued 
a  characteristic  "wet"  warning." 

If  prohibition  wins  the  farmers  will  be  unable  to  sell  sur- 
plus grain,  and  pork  and  beef  will  come  down  to  such  an 
extent  that  farmers  will  not  be  able  to  clothe  their  chil- 
dren in  silks  and  satins,  and  to  give  them  pianos.  School- 
houses  will  disappear,  because  there  will  be  no  money 
to  pay  teachers.  Thousands  of  houses  will  be  tenantless. 
We  have  raised  375,000  to  spend  principally  in  Cincinnati 
and  Cleveland,  and  we  are  going  to  teach  prohibitionists 
to  let  our  business  alone.    We  try  to  live  respectably  and 


244  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

to  lay  up  a  competence  for  our  children,  but  those 
blankety-blank  old  temperance  women  seem  determined 
to  ruin  our  business  and  families.  We  are  just  as  respect- 
able as  those  who  hold  prayer-meetings,  but  we  will  show 
them  that  the  liquor  business  is  greater  than  their 
prayers  and  speeches.  They  say  we  make  drunkards.  A 
man  don't  have  to  buy  liquor,  if  he  don't  want  it.  If  he 
is  fool  enough  to  make  himself  drunk,  that's  not  my 
fault.  We  intend  to  teach  political  parties  that  it  is  a 
dangerous  thing  to  meddle  with  us.  This  is  a  free  country 
and  women  have  no  right  to  loaf  around  election  places. 

Joseph  Cook,  of  Boston,  just  prior  to  this  election 
lectured  in  Cleveland  upon  "Alcohol  and  the  Human 
Brain."  At  the  time  of  the  Second  Amendment's 
defeat,  the  Honorable  George  Hoadley,  a  prominent 
lawyer  of  Cincinnati,  but  in  earlier  years  a  Stone 
Church  youth  and  a  graduate  of  Western  Reserve 
College,  defeated  General  Foraker  for  the  governor- 
ship. Two  Stone  Church  men  ran  for  state  senator 
on  the  Republican  ticket.  Elder  George  H.  Ely  was 
elected,  but  Dr.  G.  C.  E.  Weber,  who  made  no  effort 
to  secure  success  at  the  polls,  was  defeated.  Early  in 
February  of  1883  the  Cuyahoga  Valley  was  flooded; 
bridges  were  destroyed,  oil  tanks  burned,  and  lumber- 
yards seriously  damaged.  The  valley  lighted  by  burn- 
ing oil  spread  upon  the  waters  furnished  a  scene  not 
soon  forgotten.  Later  in  1884  lumber-yards  and 
planing-mills  on  the  flats  suffered  great  losses  through 
fires.  The  total  losses  through  fires  rose  that  year  to 
one  million  five  hundred  twenty-two  thousand  eight 
hundred  sixty-one  dollars,  a  sum  three  times  greater 
than  the  recorded  losses  of  any  previous  year. 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  245 

It  was  at  the  opening  of  this  year  of  disastrous  fires 
that  the  edifice  of  the  Stone  Church  was  burned  a 
second  time.  Messrs.  Myron  and  Dudley  Wick  had 
erected  during  1883  just  west  of  the  Stone  Church  a 
combination  structure.  The  front  part,  known  as  the 
Wick  Block,  was  an  office  building;  while  in  the  rear 
the  Park  Theater  had  been  located.  At  a  quarter  after 
eight  on  Saturday  morning,  January  5,  1884,  smoke 
was  seen  pouring  from  the  windows  of  the  theater. 
A  general  alarm  summoned  every  fire  company  in  the 
city  to  the  scene  of  conflagration.  For  over  an  hour 
the  fire  raged  without  advancing  beyond  the  ill- 
fated  playhouse,  and  it  seemed  as  though  the  Stone 
Church  might  after  all  escape  a  second  baptism  of 
fire,  notwithstanding  its  proximity  to  the  doomed 
building. 

The  heavy  stone  walls  backed  with  brick  lining, 
which  had  withstood  utter  destruction  in  1857,  again 
warded  off  the  devouring  flames.  The  slate  roof  and 
iron  trimmings  added  to  the  non-inflammable  nature 
of  the  church  exterior,  so  that  for  a  long  time  only 
the  wooden  window-frames  had  given  way.  Finally, 
however,  the  intense  heat  ignited  the  timbers  of  the 
arched  and  grained  ceiling  of  the  auditorium,  and 
before  anyone  was  aware  the  interior  of  the  church 
had  become  a  mass  of  flames.  Previous  to  this  a  few 
provident  spectators  had  removed  the  pulpit,  cush- 
ions, carpets,  and  Sunday  School  furniture  and  books, 
so  that  the  church  society's  loss  was  in  a  small  degree 
lightened. 


246  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

By  eleven  o'clock  nothing  was  left  of  the  Wick 
Block  and  Park  Theater  except  the  bare  walls;  while 
the  church  was  now  a  sheet  of  flames.  As  the  smoke 
poured  out  of  every  crevice,  a  rumor  spread  that  the 
towering  spire  might  fall  at  any  moment,  as  had  been 
the  case  at  the  time  of  the  former  fire  in  1857.  The 
crowd  of  spectators  hastily  moved  back  into  the  Pub- 
lic Square,  while  many  houses  in  the  vicinity  were 
vacated.  These  fears,  however,  proved  to  have  been 
groundless,  for  the  tall  steeple  continued  to  retain  its 
upright  position,  as  though  fire  had  not  twice  de- 
stroyed the  sacred  edifice.  At  six  o'clock  the  morning 
of  the  day  of  this  disastrous  fire  the  thermometer  had 
registered  ten  degrees  below  zero,  so  that  the  firemen 
had  been  compelled  to  fight  the  devouring  flames 
under  great  difficulties  and  intense  suffering. 

By  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  grim  walls  of 
the  Wick  properties  and  of  the  Stone  Church  were 
covered  with  ice  like  a  frosted  cake,  and  the  boughs 
of  the  large  shade  tree  in  front  of  the  church  bowed 
beneath  the  weight  of  ice  that  sparkled  in  the  sun. 
The  interiors  of  the  ruined  structures  presented  an 
appalling  sight.  Within  the  theater  there  was  a  deso- 
late scene,  the  charred  debris  first  piled  in  vast  heaps 
had  then  been  frozen  into  a  solid  mass.  The  interior 
of  the  church  resembled  its  old  self  in  the  general 
disposition  of  the  pews  and  dim  gallery  outlines.  The 
Christmas  decorations  had  not  been  removed,  and 
the  thick  clusters  of  evergreens  suspended  over  the 
chandeliers  and  gas  jets  still  hung  thickly  coated 
with  ice. 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  247 

The  total  loss  was  estimated  at  one  hundred 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  much  the  smaller  por- 
tion falling  upon  the  Stone  Church  Society,  which 
carried  twenty-seven  thousand  dollars  insurance  upon 
the  church  and  chapel,  five  thousand  dollars  upon  the 
organ  and  fifteen  hundred  dollars  on  the  furniture. 
The  chapel  had  escaped  the  ravages  of  the  flames  to 
a  greater  degree  than  had  the  main  auditorium.  The 
fire  in  1857  came  upon  a  Saturday  morning  about 
eleven  o'clock;  that  of  1884  was  also  upon  a  Saturday 
morning,  but  at  an  earlier  hour;  consequently  in  each 
instance  hurried  preparations  had  to  be  made  for 
Sabbath  services. 

On  Sunday  morning  following  the  second  fire,  Dr. 
Mitchell  and  his  homeless  flock  were  given  welcome 
by  the  Plymouth  Congregational  congregation,  which 
was  in  deep  sorrow  over  the  sudden  death  of  its  bril- 
liant pastor,  the  Reverend  Charles  Terry  Collins, 
D.D.  He  had  just  completed  the  new  church  edifice, 
and  had  won  a  place  in  the  afi^ection  of  all  denomi- 
nations, on  account  of  his  marked  ability,  extensive 
scholarship,  and  admirable  social  qualities.  Dr. 
Mitchell's  text  was,  "Thou  knowest  not  what  a  day 
may  bring  forth." 

At  the  close  of  this  union  service  the  oflficers  of  the 
Stone  Church  met  and  appointed  Messrs.  Reuben  F. 
Smith,  G.  E.  Herrick,  and  Edwin  C.  Higbee,  a  com- 
mittee to  obtain  a  temporary  place  for  stated  serv- 
ices. Case  Hall  was  secured  by  this  committee,  and 
it  was  used  until  the  renovated  chapel  had  been  made 
ready  for  occupancy. 


248  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  Stone  Church  was  now  confronted  with  the 
most  momentous  crisis  in  its  history.  The  old  down- 
town site  must  either  be  abandoned,  or  maintained 
in  the  face  of  almost  insuperable  difficulties.  Strong 
temptation  to  leave  the  historic  site  assailed  many  of 
the  leading  members,  and  outside  pressure  was  also 
applied  by  various  capitalists  anxious  to  obtain  the 
land  for  hotel  and  theater  purposes. 

The  temptation  to  sell  the  site  was  intensified  by 
the  probable  resignation  of  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell,  who 
had  been  proffered  a  secretaryship  by  the  Presby- 
terian Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  A  greater  ground 
for  discouragement,  regarding  the  possible  holding  of 
the  down-town  location,  was  the  fact  that  four  of  the 
six  trustees  who  had  served  many  years  had  either 
passed  away  prior  to  or  very  soon  after  the  fire.  The 
first  of  these  four  officials  to  die  was  Mr.  Geo.  F.  Burt. 
The  second  great  loss  was  that  of  Mr.  Amasa  Stone. 
With  all  of  his  weighty  business  cares  he  had  found 
time  to  give  twenty-two  years'  service  as  a  trustee. 
During  the  rebuilding  of  the  edifice  after  the  fire  of 
1857  this  business  man  of  large  affairs  had  given  his 
time  without  recompense  to  the  supervision  of  the 
work  of  reconstruction.  At  a  meeting  held  in  May, 
1883,  to  consider  the  advisability  of  enlarging  the 
chapel,  at  the  time  of  the  construction  of  the  Wick 
Block,  the  news  of  Mr.  Amasa  Stone's  sudden  death 
had  come  to  the  officers  of  the  church.  If  such  a  busi- 
ness leader  were  ever  needed  it  was  after  the  second 
disastrous  fire,  but  this  strong  supporter  had  passed 
away. 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  249 

The  third  trustee  to  pass  away  soon  after  the  fire 
of  1884  was  the  Honorable  Samuel  Wilhamson,  who 
was  two  years  of  age  when  his  father  came  to  Cleve- 
land. The  son  had  resided  seventy-four  years  in  the 
city,  from  the  time  that  it  had  fifty-seven  inhabitants 
until  in  1884  Cleveland  claimed  two  hundred  thou- 
sand people.  He  had  been  a  practicing  lawyer,  a 
legislator,  a  county  officer,  and  the  president  of  the 
Society  for  Savings.  For  over  half  a  century  he  had 
been  officially  connected  with  the  Stone  Church,  and 
had  served  from  1860  until  the  time  of  his  death  as 
president  of  the  Church  Society.  He  passed  away 
January  14,  1884,  only  nine  days  after  the  fire. 

The  fourth  official  of  towering  strength  to  fall  was 
Mr.  James  F.  Clark,  a  man  of  rare  business  ability 
who  had  devoted  much  time  to  the  welfare  of  the 
Stone  Church.  He  died  January  21,  1884,  seventeen 
days  after  the  fire. 

The  parents  of  Mr.  James  F.  Clark  resided  at 
Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  but  the  son  early  became  inter- 
ested in  the  engraving  business  at  Albany.  When 
only  twenty-four  years  of  age,  however,  he  came  to 
Cleveland  and  engaged  in  the  hardware  business 
under  the  name  of  Potter  and  Clark.  After  selling 
his  hardware  interests  he  became  closely  identified 
with  the  railroads  that  made  Cleveland  a  terminus, 
and  also  engaged  in  the  banking  and  real  estate  busi- 
ness. In  1834  he  married  Miss  Eliza  A.  Murphey,  of 
Colchester,  Conn.,  and  they  made  their  first  home  on 
the  Public  Square,  after  which  they  built  a  home  on 
Euclid  Avenue.  When  twenty-seven  years  of  age  Mr. 


250  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Clark  became  an  elder  in  the  Stone  Church,  and  in 
the  later  years  of  life  he  served  as  a  trustee.  Mr. 
Clark  was  a  man  of  refinement  and  his  face  was  more 
that  of  a  scholar  than  a  merchant.  During  the  last 
years  of  his  life  he  spent  much  time  in  his  library  in 
the  companionship  of  his  books. 

Thus  it  happened  that  a  congregation,  weakened 
by  the  deaths  of  officers  of  rare  executive  ability  and 
liberality,  worshiping  in  Case  Hall,  within  sight  of 
the  blackened  ruins  of  the  old  church  home,  and  led 
by  a  pastor  already  committed  to  a  new  field  of 
service,  was  subjected  to  outside  pressure  that  might 
have  prompted  almost  any  church  to  sell  what  was 
then  considered  a  valuable  site,  and  to  use  the  pro- 
ceeds for  the  construction  of  a  church  home  elsewhere. 

The  Cleveland  daily  papers  began  to  speculate  over 
the  possible  and  even  probable  uses  to  which  the 
church  site  might  be  put.  "Messrs.  Wick,"  asserted 
the  Cleveland  Leader  four  days  after  the  fire,  **are 
still  considering  the  hotel  and  theater  scheme,  and 
will  probably  carry  it  out  if  the  site  of  the  Stone 
Church  can  be  purchased  for  a  reasonable  sum."  The 
site,  which  was  then  eighty-eight  by  one  hundred 
eighty-eight  feet,  was  reputed  to  be  worth  eighty 
thousand  dollars. 

It  was  also  declared  that  the  Wick  Brothers  con- 
templated purchasing,  in  addition  to  the  church  site, 
a  narrow  strip  of  land  owned  by  William  Bingham, 
and  running  from  Ontario  Street  to  the  alley  separat- 
ing the  theater  from  the  old  Court  House,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  erecting  upon  the  combined  properties  a  hotel 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  251 

and  theater.  Rumor  likewise  had  it  that  Mr.  J.  B. 
Perkins  intended,  if  possible,  to  purchase  the  Stone 
Church  property  in  order  to  construct  a  hotel. 

The  perplexed  trustees  showed  wisdom  in  having 
discouraged  any  immediate  agitation,  on  part  of  the 
members,  relative  to  change  of  location. 

Notwithstanding  this  attitude  of  the  official  boards 
Dr.  Mitchell  preached  on  January  14,  1884,  a  sermon 
reviewing  the  history  of  the  church,  at  the  same  time 
setting  forth  possible  plans  for  her  future.  He  in- 
clined to  take  the  position  that  the  congregation  would 
be  benefited  by  a  change  of  location,  at  the  same 
time  favoring  the  maintenance  of  a  down-town  mis- 
sion. Almost  all  who  favored  change  of  location  sug- 
gested that  a  mission  be  supported  in  the  heart  of  the 
city.  There  was  likewise  the  assertion  that  few  wished 
to  worship  under  the  shadow  of  a  theater  and  in  the 
midst  of  saloons. 

Before  this  agitation  over  removal,  however,  had 
stirred  the  whole  congregation,  an  important  joint 
meeting  of  the  members  of  the  session  and  of  the 
board  of  trustees  was  held  January  26,  1884,  in  the 
office  of  Colonel  John  Hay  in  the  Cushing  Block. 
Plans  were  there  discussed  for  the  immediate  placing 
of  the  chapel  in  order  for  Sunday  use,  as  soon  as  the 
walls  of  the  wrecked  theater  had  become  safe  for 
workmen  to  be  employed  in  their  vicinity.  It  was 
estimated  that  by  removing  all  class-room  partitions 
the  chapel  would  furnish  a  seating  capacity  of  six 
hundred. 

At  this  meeting,  however.  Colonel  R.  C.  Parsons 


252  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

broached  the  subject  of  selling  the  property,  and  of 
going  eastward  to  some  point  on  EucHd  Avenue.  In- 
asmuch as  the  site  of  the  Stone  Church  had  been  the 
gift  of  ten  pioneer  members  of  the  Church  Society, 
the  question  was  raised  as  to  the  possibiHty  of  giving 
a  clear  title  to  any  purchaser.  Judge  Samuel  E.  Wil- 
liamson was  of  the  opinion  that  a  clear  title  could 
be  given,  although  he  was  opposed  to  the  removal  of 
the  church.  Colonel  John  Hay  argued  strongly  for 
the  retention  of  the  old  site;  while  others  favored  a 
change  of  location.  The  promise  that  Calvary  Mis- 
sion then  gave  of  becoming  a  strong  Presbyterian 
Church,  on  account  of  the  constant  removal  of  Stone 
Church  families  to  that  locality,  proved  an  addi- 
tional argument  for  selling  the  down-town  site,  and 
using  the  proceeds  in  the  construction  of  Calvary's 
sanctuary. 

Trustee  G.  E.  Herrick  introduced  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  joint  meeting  of  officers  a  resolution  order- 
ing the  sale  of  the  old  site,  and  the  purchase  of  a  new 
one  on  Euclid  Avenue,  "between  Blair  Lane  and 
Willson  Avenue."  Today  that  tentative  site  would 
be  between  Fern  Court  and  East  Fifty-fifth  Street. 
The  resolution,  however,  was  withdrawn. 

Perhaps  the  immediate  renovation  of  the  chapel 
for  worship  was  the  most  practical  driving  of  stakes, 
whereby  the  church  was  held  upon  its  original  site. 
At  the  decisive  meeting  of  the  congregation  held  in 
the  First  Baptist  Church  February  2,  1884,  the  aged 
Elder  John  A.  Foot  wielded  considerable  influence  in 
settling  the  whole  matter,  according  to  the  account 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  253 

given  by  the  late  Judge  Samuel  E.  Williamson  in  his 
paper,  "Men  of  Mark  in  the  Church  and  Society," 
read  at  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary.  Having  con- 
cluded very  reluctantly  that  the  church  could  not  be 
supported  financially,  if  it  remained  on  the  Public 
Square,  he  had  struggled  to  convince  himself  that  it 
would  be  wise  to  remove  to  the  present  site  of  Calvary 
Church,  a  plan  practically  adopted  by  a  majority  of 
officers;  but  the  moment  he  saw  the  way  open  even 
for  temporary  support  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  he 
seized  the  opportune  moment;  asked  some  one  to  take 
his  place  as  chairman  of  the  meeting,  and  made  a 
clear,  ringing  speech  in  favor  of  rebuilding  the  old 
church,  and  captured  his  audience  so  completely  that 
longer  discussion  was  useless. 

In  the  characteristic  modesty  of  his  nature  it  was 
like  the  late  Judge  Samuel  E.  Williamson  to  credit 
Elder  John  A.  Foot  with  having  swayed  the  congre- 
gational meeting  at  which  the  decision  was  taken  to 
rebuild  on  the  historic  site.  Without  what  Judge 
Williamson  had  accomplished,  however,  behind  the 
scenes  such  a  decision  would  probably  never  have 
been  taken.  The  afternoon  prior  to  the  congrega- 
tional meeting  the  pastor  and  others  had  tried  to  per- 
suade him  to  favor  the  removal  eastward,  with  the 
maintenance  of  a  mission  in  the  down-town  district, 
but  all  of  their  pleas  were  in  vain.  At  the  evening 
meeting  he  took  the  ground  that  a  mission  chapel 
would  answer  no  high  purpose;  that  the  church  edifice 
could  be  rebuilt,  not  depressingly  (the  old  audi- 
torium having  been  somewhat  gloomy),  but  attract- 


25-t  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

ively,  and  that  the  whole  church  service  could  be 
conducted  upon  a  high  level.  To  the  argument  in 
favor  of  removal  that  deficits  would  increase  on  ac- 
count of  the  eastward  trend  of  families,  Judge  Wil- 
liamson made  a  most  practical  reply  in  the  form  of 
a  guarantee  given  by  Mrs.  Samuel  Mather  and  other 
members,  as  well  as  himself,  that  deficits  at  least  to 
the  extent  of  ten  thousand  dollars  would  be  met. 
With  such  an  argument  in  favor  of  rebuilding  upon 
the  historic  site,  it  is  not  surprising  that  good  Elder 
John  A.  Foot  was  inspired  to  a  climax  of  persuasive 
oratory. 

During  the  week  following  the  first  Sabbath  wor- 
ship of  the  homeless  congregation  in  Case  Hall,  the 
famous  Matthew  Arnold  of  England  lectured  in  that 
place  upon  "Numbers."  He  was  introduced  to  his 
Cleveland  audience  by  Colonel  John  Hay. 

Three  months  prior  to  the  burning  of  the  Stone 
Church  edifice,  a  new  stone  chapel  had  been  dedi- 
cated at  Calvary  Mission.  The  primitive  wooden 
chapel  faced  Euclid  Avenue,  at  what  is  now  the  cor- 
ner of  East  Seventy-ninth  Street.  Back  of  the  wooden 
chapel  and  facing  what  was  then  known  as  East 
Madison  Avenue,  now  East  Seventy-ninth  Street,  the 
present  stone  chapel  had  been  constructed  at  a  cost 
of  nineteen  thousand  dollars.  The  Reverend  John  W. 
Simpson  was  in  charge  of  the  growing  work,  and  the 
dedicatory  services  were  held  September  30,  1883,  the 
Reverend  Dr.  Hiram  C.  Haydn  having  been  invited 
to  come  from  New  York  City  to  deliver  the  sermon. 
Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  presided  and  in  the  pulpit  with 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  255 

him  were  the  following  clergymen:  the  Reverend 
John  W.  Simpson,  the  Reverend  Charles  S.  Pomeroy, 
D.D.,  of  the  Second  Church;  the  Reverend  Rollo 
Ogden,  who  having  returned  from  Mexico  on  account 
of  the  serious  illness  of  Mrs.  Ogden,  had  become 
pastor  of  the  Case  Avenue  Church;  the  Reverend 
William  Gaston,  D.D.,  of  the  North  Church;  and 
President  Carroll  Cutler,  D.D.,  of  Western  Reserve 
University.   The  text  of  Dr.  Haydn's  sermon  was: 

And  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation,  and  I  will  bless 
thee  and  make  thy  name  great,  and  thou  shall  be  a  blessing. 

With  the  completion  of  this  permanent  stone  chapel 
came  the  real  beginning  of  the  collegiate  form  of 
church  life  embracing  at  the  outset  the  Old  Stone  and 
Calvary  congregations. 

It  had  long  been  the  conviction  in  the  Presbyterian 
church  at  large  that  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  was  specially 
fitted  for  a  secretaryship  in  connection  with  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  As  early  as  1870  he  had 
been  offered  that  position,  but  he  could  not  then  see 
his  way  clear  to  accept.  The  Interior  of  Chicago  had 
advocated  his  selection,  before  he  left  that  city  for 
the  Cleveland  pastorate.  When  in  the  closing  days 
of  1883  he  was  again  proffered  the  position,  he  had 
practically  decided  to  resign,  in  order  to  give  himself 
wholly  to  the  cause  that  he  so  dearly  loved. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Stone  Church  Session  held 
March  29,  1884,  Dr.  Mitchell  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  closing  his  pastorate  by  June  at  the  latest. 
Shortly  after  this  announcement  the  Reverend  John 
W.  Simpson,  assistant  pastor  in  charge  of  Calvary 


256  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Mission,  presented  his  resignation,  to  take  effect  im- 
mediately. It  was  not  until  June  13,  1884,  that  Dr. 
Mitchell's  resignation  was  formally  presented  and 
reluctantly  accepted  by  the  congregation,  and  three 
days  later  a  meeting  was  held  to  select  a  successor. 

In  the  midst  of  so  many  perplexities  in  which  the 
congregation  had  become  involved  through  the  fire, 
the  deaths  of  strong  and  tried  leaders  in  the  church, 
the  resignations  of  two  pastors,  and  the  unsettling 
agitation  over  the  change  of  church  location,  the  offi- 
cers and  leading  members  turned  instinctively  to  the 
possibility  of  recalling  the  Reverend  Hiram  C.  Haydn, 
D.D.,  as  an  assured  solution  of  the  complex  situation. 

Elder  George  H.  Ely  stated  at  the  congregational 
meeting  that  he  felt  that  a  unanimous  call  might  re- 
ceive Dr.  Haydn's  consideration.  Certainly  no  min- 
ister could  be  found  who  could  assume  in  all  its 
details  the  difficult  task  confronting  the  Stone  Church 
as  could  one  who  had  already  been  eight  years  on  the 
field.  The  four  elders  representing  Calvary  Mission 
asserted  that  its  members  would  be  unanimous  in 
seeking  to  secure  Dr.  Haydn.  The  Honorable  Rich- 
ard C.  Parsons  then  presented  this  resolution,  "That 
it  is  the  sense  of  this  meeting  that  Dr.  Haydn  be 
called  to  the  pastorate  of  this  church."  A  committee 
consisting  of  Elders  Reuben  F.  Smith,  Edwin  C. 
Higbee  and  Francis  C.  Keith,  and  Trustees  J.  H. 
McBride  and  Samuel  E.  Williamson  was  appointed 
to  prepare  a  call. 

Dr.  Haydn's  acceptance  of  the  call  was  received 
July  9,  1884,  and  thus  encouraged  by  the  prospect  of 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  257 

the  return  of  a  tried  leader  the  Stone  Church  did  not 
hesitate  to  take  advance  steps  to  strengthen  the  col- 
legiate type  of  religious  work.  A  special  meeting  of 
the  elders  representing  both  the  Stone  Church  and 
Calvary  Mission  was  held  September  1,  1884,  at 
which  it  was  recommended  that  the  Reverend  Wilton 
Merle  Smith,  of  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  be  called  as  assist- 
ant pastor,  at  an  annual  salary  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  and  at  a  later  joint  meeting  of  the 
congregations  held  September  12,  1884,  the  call  was 
e  xtended. 

Cleveland  Presbytery  held  a  meeting  on  Sunday 
evening  October  19,  1884,  prior  to  the  evening  serv- 
ice. Dr.  Haydn  was  received  from  the  Fairfield  Con- 
gregational Association  of  Connecticut,  and  the  Rev- 
erend Wilton  Merle  Smith  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Syracuse.  The  evening  service  was  devoted  to  the 
following  order  of  double  installation:  To  preside, 
the  Reverend  E.  Bushnell,  D.D.;  prayer  and  reading 
of  scriptures.  President  Carroll  Cutler,  D.D.;  prayer 
before  sermon,  the  Reverend  Edward  W.  Hitchcock, 
of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York;  sermon  by  President 
S.  F.  Scovel,  D.D.,  of  Wooster  University;  prayer 
of  installation,  the  Reverend  Anson  Smyth,  D.D.; 
charge  to  the  pastors,  the  Reverend  Eleroy  Curtis, 
D.D.;  charge  to  the  congregation,  the  Reverend 
W.  V.  W.  Davis,  D.D.;  right  hand  of  fellowship,  the 
Reverend  Rollo  Ogden;  benediction  by  the  Reverend 
Hiram  C.  Haydn,  D.D. 

The  Stone  Church  thus  surmounted  perhaps  the 
greatest   crisis   in    its   history,   and   continued  with 


258  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

scarcely  a  break  in  the  pastoral  leadership  to  pros- 
ecute its  great  mission,  as  a  down-town  congrega- 
tion destined  to  remain  upon  the  Public  Square  at 
least  to  this  centennial  celebration,  and  in  all  prob- 
ability for  years  to  come. 

Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  departed  with  the  love  and 
best  wishes  of  the  congregation  which  he  had  so 
effectively  served,  although  for  a  comparatively  short 
period  of  time.  As  secretary  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  he  was  permitted  for 
nearly  eight  years  to  stand  between  the  field  mission- 
aries and  the  home  churches,  encouraging  the  one 
and  pleading  for  the  prayerful  sympathy  and  financial 
support  of  the  other.  Three  years  before  his  death  a 
tour  was  made  of  the  mission  fields  of  the  east.  Never 
had  this  zealous  minister  learned  to  measure  aright 
his  powers  of  endurance. 

At  Nanking,  China,  blindness  suddenly  overcame 
him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  unable  to  follow 
his  manuscript  in  the  delivery  of  a  sermon,  but  the 
remainder  of  the  discourse  was  extemporized.  Later 
at  Bangkok,  while  discussing  missionary  matters  with 
a  member  of  that  field,  there  was  the  recurrence  of 
the  attack  of  blindness.  He  continued,  however, 
addressing  an  auditor  whom  he  could  see  no  longer, 
until  he  sank  to  the  floor  not  only  blind,  but  also 
speechless  and  with  one  side  of  the  face  paralyzed. 

Weak  and  unfit  for  service  he  returned  to  this 
country,  to  be  granted  three  months'  leave  of  absence, 
but  normal  strength  never  returned.  When  opportu- 
nities came  to  accept  less  strenuous  labor,  he  dared 


ARTHUR  MITCHELL  259 

not  turn  from  the  great  mission  of  his  Hfe.  After 
another  respite  of  three  months  in  the  spring  of  1892, 
it  became  evident  that  the  illness  would  soon  prove 
fatal. 

Perhaps  the  most  eloquent  and  inspiring  moment 
of  Dr.  Mitchell's  secretarial  career  was  that  of  a 
speech  over  an  hour  before  the  Synod  of  New  York  in 
session  at  Albany.  John  G.  Paton  of  the  New 
Hebrides,  who  was  present,  declared  that  it  had  been 
the  most  remarkable  missionary  appeal  to  which  he 
had  ever  listened.  It  shook  the  Synod  like  a  tempest, 
but  alas,  it  also  shook  the  frail  body  of  the  speaker. 
He  wrote  from  Florida  to  a  friend  that  he  had  never 
been  the  same  man  since  that  night.  It  was  a  worthy 
farewell  plea  before  the  church  and  Christian  world 
to  remember  the  nations  that  have  waited  so  many 
centuries  for  the  higher  truth. 

Dr.  Mitchell  passed  away  April  24,  1893,  at  Sara- 
toga, N.  Y.  The  widow  is  still  living,  making  her 
home  at  537  West  One  Hundred  Twenty-first  Street, 
New  York  City..  The  eldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Rollo 
Ogden,  went  with  her  husband  to  Mexico,  but  on 
account  of  serious  illness  was  compelled  to  return 
from  that  missionary  field  to  this  country.  The  second 
daughter.  Miss  Alice  Mitchell,  went  as  a  medical 
missionary  to  India  and  was  stationed  at  the  foothills 
of  the  Himalayas.  She  died  in  1916.  Miss  Julia  Post 
Mitchell,  the  third  daughter,  graduated  from  Smith 
College  in  1901;  was  instructor  in  English  at  Vassar 
College,  and  lecturer  on  Shakespeare  at  Columbia 
College.    She  was  appointed   as  a   member  of  the 


260  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

faculty  of  the  Christian  College,  Canton,  China,  and 
departed  to  that  field  in  1913.  In  1916  she  was  mar- 
ried to  the  Reverend  John  S.  Kunkle,  a  missionary  in 
Canton,  China.  There  are  two  other  daughters,  Har- 
riet and  Margaret,  and  a  son  named  after  his  father. 
Professor  Arthur  Mitchell,  of  the  University  of 
Kansas. 

At  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  Reverend  Arthur 
Mitchell,  D.D.,  the  Reverend  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  D.D., 
one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions,  wrote: 

Much  might  be  said  of  the  relations  which  Dr.  Mitchell 
bore  to  his  colleagues  as  a  secretary.  He  enjoyed  the 
perfect  confidence  and  love  of  all.  Never  was  there  a 
truer  man,  seldom  a  more  faithful  servant  of  Christ. 

All  who  knew  Dr.  Mitchell  during  his  four  pas- 
torates, and  in  his  secretarial  service  to  the  church, 
can  readily  place  him  among  those  of  whom  it  was 
said,  "He  being  dead  yet  speaketh."  Even  after  the 
flight  of  twenty-seven  years  since  he  entered  into 
glory,  there  comes  the  clarion  call  of  this  earnest 
servant  of  Christ : 

Proclaim  to  every  people,  tongue,  and  nation 

That  God,  in  whom  they  live  and  move,  is  Love; 

Tell  how  He  stooped  to  save  His  lost  creation, 
And  died  on  earth  that  man  might  live  above. 

Give  of  thy  sons  to  bear  the  message  glorious; 

Give  of  thy  wealth  to  speed  them  on  their  way; 
Pour  out  thy  soul  for  them  in  prayer  victorious; 

And  all  thou  spendest  Jesus  will  repay. 


IX.    THE   SECOND   PASTORATE  OF  THE 
REVEREND  HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN 

1884-1902 

For  eleven  months  after  the  second  disastrous  fire, 
the  smoke-begrimed  walls  of  the  Old  Stone  Church 
hid  from  public  gaze  the  inner  transformation  that 
the  edifice  was  steadily  undergoing.  On  Sunday 
morning,  October  19,  1884,  the  bell  in  the  steeple 
sounded  forth  sonorous  yet  joyful  peals  again  sum- 
moning people  to  worship.  The  heavy  iron-hinged 
doors  were  thrown  open,  and  all  who  thronged  the 
service  were  dazzled  by  a  scene  of  magnificence  far 
exceeding  their  highest  expectations. 

The  transformation  had  been  complete.  The  only 
thing  that  seemed  to  mar  the  splendor  of  the  reno- 
vated sanctuary  was  really  prophetic  of  greater 
beauty.  Heavy  canvas  covered  the  triple  window 
fronting  the  Public  Square;  also  one  of  the  windows 
on  the  Ontario  Street  side.  The  former  was  to  be 
occupied  by  a  memorial  window,  the  gift  of  the  Amasa 
Stone  estate,  and  the  other  space  was  to  be  filled  by 
one  in  memory  of  the  late  Samuel  Williamson.  Two 
polished  blocks  of  brown  granite  set  in  the  north  wall 
gleamed  with  brass  tablets,  in  memory  of  two  de- 
ceased pastors,  the  Reverend  Samuel  C.  Aiken,  D.D., 
and  the  Reverend  William  H.  Goodrich,  D.D. 

In  such  a  rich  temple  of  worship  did  the  joyous 


262  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

congregation  gather  that  Sunday  morning  to  receive 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  administered  by 
two  pastors-elect,  the  Reverend  Hiram  C.  Haydn, 
D.D.,  and  the  Reverend  Wilton  Merle  Smith.  Before 
the  holy  communion  was  celebrated,  the  senior  pastor 
delivered  a  sermon  touching  the  past,  present,  and 
future  of  the  Stone  Church  as  a  power  for  spiritual 
good. 

On  Sunday  evening  members  of  all  the  Cleveland 
Presbyterian  churches  crowded  the  renovated  audi- 
torium to  overflowing.  The  pulpit  platform  was 
occupied  by  representatives  of  Cleveland  Presbytery, 
to  whom  had  been  delegated  the  pleasant  duty  of 
installing  a  minister  who  for  eight  years  had  been 
pastor  of  the  church,  and  with  him  a  younger  clergy- 
man as  an  associate  pastor. 

The  order  of  this  double  installation  service  has 
been  given  in  a  previous  chapter,  but  the  outline  of 
President  Sylvester  F.  Scovel's  sermon  is  interesting. 
This  president  of  Wooster  University,  much  beloved 
by  everyone  who  knew  him,  was  noted  for  thorough 
treatment  of  the  texts  of  his  discourses,  but  notwith- 
standing the  length  of  the  sermon  necessary  to  permit 
comprehensive  analysis,  his  auditors  were  always 
perplexed  to  know  just  which  portions  they  would 
have  had  eliminated  for  the  sake  of  greater  brevity. 
President  Scovel's  theme  was,  "St.  Paul  as  a  model 
for  a  minister."  The  numerous  sermonic  divisions 
were  St.  Paul's  intellectual  energy,  his  impetuosity, 
his  indomitable  will,  his  cultivated  mind  trained  by 
books  and   nature,   his  devotion  to  his  ungrateful 


Hiram  C  Ha^dn 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  265 

people,  his  broad-mindedness  shown  in  spreading  the 
gospel  message  among  all  nations,  the  practice  of  his 
own  doctrine,  his  enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  human- 
ity, contempt  for  his  own  life,  and  his  exalted  ideas 
of  Christ's  church. 

The  same  Sunday  that  the  Stone  Church  members 
rejoiced  in  the  reopened  house  of  worship  those  of 
the  Grace  Episcopal  Church,  then  located  on  Huron 
Road,  corner  of  Erie  Street  [East  Ninth  Street],  also 
re-entered  a  renovated  sanctuary.  Not  only  had 
there  been  general  repair,  but  also  a  transformed 
chancel  increased  ten  feet  in  dimensions  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  memory  of  the  Reverend  A.  H.  Wash- 
burn, D.D.,  who  met  an  untimely  death  in  the  Ash- 
tabula disaster. 

Under  such  auspicious  circumstances  Dr.  Haydn's 
second  pastorate  in  the  Stone  Church  commenced. 
The  association  of  the  Reverend  Wilton  Merle  Smith 
brought  special  hope  to  the  senior  pastor,  who  natur- 
ally rejoiced  in  the  possibilities  of  the  younger 
minister's  service  both  at  Calvary  Mission  and  the 
down-town  church. 

In  a  paper  read  by  the  late  Mrs.  Samuel  Mather 
at  the  celebration  of  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary 
the  growing  activity  of  the  women  was  thus  por- 
trayed: 

It  is  as  curious  to  note  the  omissions  in  the  minutes  of 
all  these  years  as  it  is  to  trace  the  changes  the  years 
bring.  The  comings  and  goings  of  the  pastors  are  never 
chronicled,  and  the  one  allusion  to  the  burning  of  the 
church  is  found,  when  at  a  meeting  in  February,  1884, 
it   is   decided    to   take   up   fancy-work   at   the   Goodrich 


266  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Society  meetings,  that  "the  sales  may  aid  us  in  doing 
our  part  in  the  refitting  of  the  church."  Later  the  society 
agreed  to  take  as  its  share  the  refitting  of  the  pulpit 
platform  with  all  its  appropriate  belongings.  In  Novem- 
ber there  was  a  sale  of  articles  and  later  the  treasurer 
reported  that  the  proceeds  would  pay  for  our  building 
pledges  and  leave  two  hundred  dollars  in  the  treasury. 
Does  anyone  remember  that  there  is  a  tablet  at  the  back 
of  the  pulpit  stating  that  it  and  all  that  pertains  to  the 
chancel  was  the  gift  of  this  society,  placed  there  in 
memory  of  Dr.  Goodrich?  The  baptismal  font  was  to 
have  been  included  in  our  gift,  but  the  minutes  record 
that  Mrs.  Tyler  made  that  her  personal  offering,  as  well 
as  the  beautiful  communion  linen  which  the  new  table 
made  necessary.  In  November  of  1885  the  society  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  select  a  wedding  gift  to  be  sent 
to  the  bride  of  our  associate  pastor,  the  Reverend  Wilton 
Merle  Smith.  In  1885  the  society  pledged  one  thousand 
dollars  towards  the  building  of  the  new  North  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  for  two  years  every  little  that  could 
be  spared  from  the  treasury  was  turned  to  that  fund.  In 
January  of  1887  the  society  voted  to  assume  the  expenses 
of  our  own  Sunday  School.  Hitherto  this  had  been  the 
charge  of  the  Ladies'  Society,  and  now  they  were  left  to 
take  up  other  work.  In  February  of  1888  the  Goodrich 
Society  laid  plans  to  aid  in  the  rebuilding  of  our  chapel. 
The  minutes  of  1889  speak  of  the  little  share  our 
society  had  on  the  pleasant  occasion  of  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  the  marriage  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Haydn,  and 
a  copy  of  Dr.  Haydn's  appreciative  letter  to  the  women's 
societies  of  the  church  is  inscribed  on  our  records.  Is 
there  anything  further  to  say.?  Whatever  has  happened 
since  seems  too  recent  to  be  chronicled,  and  may  be  left 
to  the  historian  of  our  hundredth  anniversary.  But  no 
record  of  work  in  the  Stone  Church  would  be  complete 
that  failed  to  make  mention  of  one  whose  life,  whose 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  267 

very  face,  was  always  an  inspiration  -  faithful  Miss  Fitch! 
who  than  she  ever  more  fully  exemplified  that  word  of 
wide  meaning?  As  president  of  the  Ladies'  Society  she 
was  often  in  our  meetings  for  a  word  of  conference  or 
suggestion,  and  when  the  secretary  tells,  in  March  of 
1892,  that  the  "Ladies'  Societies  of  the  three  collegiate 
branches  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  convened  for 
their  last  annual  union  meeting"  in  the  newly  built 
chapel  with  Miss  Fitch  presiding,  she  records  one  of  the 
last  public  duties  that  filled  that  useful  and  noble  life. 

Miss  Sarah  E.  Fitch,  whose  name  appears  fre- 
quently in  the  annals  of  the  Stone  Church,  was  the 
daughter  of  Gurdon  Fitch,  one  of  the  incorporators 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  Society.  When 
forty  years  of  age  he  and  his  wife,  with  their  five 
children,  came  in  1826  to  Cleveland,  and  resided  at 
the  corner  of  Water  and  St.  Clair  Streets,  where  Mr. 
Fitch  kept  a  tavern.  He  became  a  valuable  member 
of  the  community,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  was 
active  in  organizing  Cleveland  as  a  city  in  1836.  Miss 
Sarah  E.  Fitch  was  born  in  1819  and  died  in  1893. 
From  1840  to  1856  she  taught  a  private  school  in 
the  Huron  Street  Academy,  where  her  sincere,  loving 
character  made  a  life-long  impression  upon  the  pupils. 
In  the  days  of  more  mature  womanhood  she  devoted 
herself  to  ministrations  among  the  poor,  and  it  was 
mainly  through  her  efforts  that  The  Retreat,  an  in- 
stitution for  erring  women,  was  established.  She 
assisted  in  the  formation  of  the  Woman's  Christian 
Association;  was  its  first  president,  and  continued  in 
that  office  until  the  time  of  her  death.  For  some  time 
previous  to  passing  away,  she  was  almost  as  valuable 


268  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

to  the  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church  as  a  regularly  em- 
ployed assistant  might  have  been. 

The  Ladies'  Society  continued  to  exert  great  in- 
fluence, not  only  in  caring  for  the  interests  of  the 
mother  church,  but  also  for  those  of  the  new  church 
enterprises  which  began  to  flourish  extensively  during 
Dr.  Haydn's  second  pastorate.  From  1885  until  the 
seventy-fifth  anniversary  celebration  in  1895,  the 
Ladies'  Society  expended  nine  thousand  three  hun- 
dred thirty-six  dollars,  and  continued  to  be  what  Dr. 
Aiken  had  termed  it,  "his  helping  hand." 

At  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  Dr.  Haydn's 
second  pastorate  the  session  was  composed  of  Elders 
John  A.  Foot,  George  H.  Ely,  Reuben  F.  Smith, 
Edwin  C.  Higbee,  Sereno  P.  Fenn,  Joseph  E.  Upson, 
Seymour  F.  Adams,  R.  J.  Fuller,  L.  W.  Bingham,  and 
Henry  M.  Raymond,  the  last  named  serving  as  clerk. 
The  board  of  trustees  consisted  of  Messrs.  J.  L. 
Woods,  Samuel  E.  Williamson,  J.  H.  McBride,  Rich- 
ard C.  Parsons,  W.  S.  Tyler,  G.  E.  Herrick,  and 
Samuel  A.  Raymond,  clerk. 

Thus  the  Stone  Church,  having  recovered  from  the 
calamity  of  the  second  fire,  found  itself  facing  a  most 
progressive,  fruitful  decade,  with  Calvary  Mission  in 
close  affiliation.  The  Reverend  Wilton  Merle  Smith 
was  a  stirring,  magnetic  preacher,  with  very  effective 
social  and  pastoral  gifts,  ably  seconded  by  a  wife 
equal  to  her  husband  in  winsome  qualities  of  heart 
and  mind.  This  young  associate  was  soon  sought 
by  strong  churches,  and  after  a  little  less  than  five 
years'  service  in  Cleveland  he  became  pastor  of  the 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  269 

Central  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  York  City, 
where  he  remained  until  July  1,  1920,  a  period  of 
thirty-one  years. 

In  the  spring  of  1884  Calvary  Chapel  had  two  hun- 
dred communicants,  with  four  hundred  five  pupils  in 
the  Sunday  School,  and  the  previous  year  over  four 
thousand  dollars  had  been  raised.  During  the  church 
year  1884-1885  the  collegiate  organization  reported 
eight  hundred  eighty-nine  members,  with  eight  hun- 
dred sixty-five  pupils  in  the  Sunday  Schools.  During 
1886  one  hundred  twenty  members  were  added, 
making  a  total  membership  of  nine  hundred  fifty. 
The  associated  pastors  alternated  in  serving  the  col- 
legiate organizations.  The  need  of  a  lady  city  mis- 
sionary, suggested  in  1886,  prompted  the  securing  of 
Miss  Spencer. 

The  Reverend  Wilton  Merle-Smith  proposed  a  mis- 
sion for  the  territory  bounded  by  North  Perry  Street 
on  the  east,  Water  Street  on  the  west,  Superior  Street 
on  the  south,  with  the  lake  on  the  north.  A  canvass 
of  this  district  revealed  fourteen  hundred  Americans, 
five  hundred  Germans,  and  one  hundred  of  other 
nationalities.  The  total  membership  of  the  collegiate 
organizations  increased  in  1887  to  one  thousand 
twenty-four,  with  a  total  Sunday  School  enrollment 
of  eight  hundred  twenty-five. 

During  Dr.  Haydn's  second  pastorate  Cleveland 
hastened  rapidly  toward  her  metropolitan  estate,  with 
an  increasing  prophecy  of  one  million  inhabitants. 
The  census  of  1880  had  credited  the  city  with  one 
hundred  sixty  thousand  people;    that  of  1890  with 


270  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

two  hundred  sixty-one  thousand;  while  the  enumera- 
tion of  1900  gave  three  hundred  seventy-one  thou- 
sand, or  a  gain  of  two  hundred  ten  thousand  inhabit- 
ants in  twenty  years. 

When  Dr.  WilHam  H.  Goodrich  came  to  Cleveland 
in  1858  the  streets  were  open  to  any  capitalists  willing 
to  build  a  street  railway.  At  the  beginning  of  Dr. 
Haydn's  second  pastorate  the  traction  privileges  were 
becoming  valuable  prizes,  the  leading  issue  of  munic- 
ipal elections. 

As  early  as  1875  the  East  Cleveland  Street  Railway 
Company  experimented  with  electric  power.  The 
underground  system  on  Garden  and  Quincy  Streets 
proved  unsatisfactory,  but  it  had  the  merit  of  having 
been  the  first  trial  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States. 
Ten  years  later  the  Superior  and  Payne  Avenue  lines 
were  transformed  at  an  enormous  expense  into  cable 
roads.  In  1879  Tom  L.  Johnson  came  to  Cleveland 
and  bought  some  bankrupt  car-lines,  and  his  aggress- 
ive tactics  stirred  the  other  traction  companies.  The 
overhead  electric  system  was  at  length  applied  to  all 
lines,  which  first  were  merged  into  the  Big  and  Little 
Consolidated  Companies,  and  finally  into  the  Cleve- 
land Electric  Railway  Company. 

This  development  of  rapid  transit  facilities  changed 
radically  the  city's  residential  sections.  Citizens  who 
had  lived  two  miles  from  the  business  center,  and  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  spend  half  an  hour  riding  to 
their  work  on  the  horse-cars,  could  now  reside  four 
miles  from  the  Public  Square  and  spend  only  the 
same  time  going  to  and  from  their  business.  "Payne's 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  271 

Pastures,"  which  had  remained  unallotted  near  the 
down-town  district  in  order  to  be  sold  ultimately  at 
enhanced  valuation  for  residence  purposes,  were  de- 
prived by  rapid  transit  of  that  disposition  and  a 
generation  passed  before  the  property  was  demanded 
for  factory  sites.  The  revolution  in  rapid  transit 
greatly  expanded  the  population. 

Gordon  and  Wade  Parks  were  then  given  to  the 
city,  leading  to  other  benefactions  in  the  line  of  park 
and  boulevard  development.  The  long  Central  Via- 
duct dedicated  in  1888  brought  the  hitherto  isolated 
South  Side,  or  "Heights,"  into  closer  relation  with  the 
business  center.  Wealthy  citizens  began  in  1889  to 
make  large  bequests  for  the  advancement  of  art,  such 
as  those  of  John  Huntington,  Horace  Kelley,  and 
H.  B.  Hurlbut.  The  Art  Museum  in  Wade  Park  was 
slow  in  materializing,  but  the  city  now  delights  in 
its  possession. 

Municipal  affairs  during  this  second  pastorate  of 
Dr.  Haydn  were  under  the  guidance  of  Mayors  John 
Farley,  George  W.  Gardner,  Robert  Blee,  William  G. 
Rose,  and  Robert  McKisson.  With  the  exception  of 
the  last  named  these  mayors  were  retired  business 
men,  but  the  election  in  1895  of  Robert  McKisson 
placed  in  the  mayor's  chair  a  young  aggressive  law- 
yer. Mayor  George  W.  Gardner,  who  served  two 
terms,  had  spent  his  youth  in  the  Stone  Church,  to 
which  his  family  belonged.  His  parents  had  come  to 
Cleveland  in  1837,  and  the  father  was  a  member  of 
the  Vincent  and  Gardner  Furniture  Company.  Mayor 
Gardner's  brother,  the  Reverend  Theodore  Y.  Gard- 


272  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

ner,  graduated  from  Western  Reserve  College  and 
Union  Seminary  and  served  both  Presbyterian  and 
Congregational  Churches.  He  possessed  artistic 
ability  and  to  him  is  due  the  faithful  picture  of  the 
original  Stone  Church,  sketched  from  memory.  He 
also  fashioned  the  medallion  heads  of  Dr.  Aiken  and 
Dr.  Goodrich  which  have  long  hung  on  the  north 
chapel  wall.  There  were  two  other  Gardner  brothers, 
James  P.,  who  served  in  the  Civil  War  and  became 
a  newspaper  writer,  and  Samuel  S.,  whose  widow  is 
a  member  of  the  committee  on  centennial  celebration, 
serving  as  secretary.  Mrs.  S.  S.  Gardner  has  long 
been  an  efficient  worker  in  many  departments  of  the 
Stone  Church. 

During  Dr.  Haydn's  second  pastorate  Cleveland 
took  swift  commercial  strides,  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  time  the  more  potent  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce.  The  population  extended  eastward 
toward  Euclid  Creek  and  westward  in  the  direction 
of  Rocky  River,  a  stretch  of  twenty  miles  along  the 
shore  of  Lake  Erie,  but  the  movement  of  population 
southward  had  been  checked  by  unbridged  valleys. 
These  natural  chasms,  however,  are  being  overcome 
and  a  southward  extension  of  population  is  assured. 

During  this  remarkable  expansion  of  municipal 
bounds,  the  Stone  Church  under  the  leadership  of 
Dr.  Haydn  caught  the  spirit  of  religious  upbuilding 
and  entered  upon  an  era  of  extraordinary  activity. 
Toward  the  close  of  1887  in  addition  to  his  regular 
duties  Dr.  Haydn  assumed  the  presidency  of  Western 
Reserve  University,  when  that  institution  was  beset 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  273 

with  many  difficulties.  This  extra  educational  serv- 
ice was  only  designed  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
calling  of  an  educator  of  national  reputation  and  was 
temporary  in  Dr.  Haydn's  estimation.  This  educa- 
tional service  will  be  treated  in  a  later  chapter,  but 
the  laborious  work  assumed  at  the  very  beginning  of 
Dr.  Haydn's  second  pastorate  should  be  borne  in 
mind  while  following  his  ministerial  labors. 

Cleveland  Presbyterians  had  long  refrained  from 
locating  a  church  on  the  West  Side,  a  hesitancy  due 
to  the  Plan  of  Union  spirit  of  cooperation  between 
Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians.  Throughout 
the  Western  Reserve  these  denominations  are  not  to 
be  found  in  one  place,  unless  the  population  warrants 
their  coexistence.  Where  the  two  are  found  in  a 
small  city,  it  is  generally  due  to  the  fact  that  a  Pres- 
byterian quarrel  prompted  the  formation  of  a  Con- 
gregational church.  On  account  of  its  independency 
in  polity  that  denomination  has  inherited  polemic 
colonies  from  various  religious  bodies.  This  has  been 
true  a  number  of  times  in  Cleveland,  not  only  in  the 
case  of  Trinity  Congregational  Church,  formed  from 
the  Bolton  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  but  also  the 
United  Congregational  Church,  organized  by  seceding 
members  of  the  Shafer  Memorial  M.  E.  Church. 

So  long  as  the  West  Side  constituted  a  small  city 
its  Congregational  churches  protested  against  every 
Presbyterian  movement  in  that  direction.  In  1870, 
however,  an  effort  was  made  to  establish  a  Presby- 
terian mission  west  of  the  Cuyahoga  River,  but  it 
failed.    The  Presbyterian  Union  in  1873  took  steps 


274  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

to  repeat  the  experiment,  but  the  panic  of  1873  de- 
feated the  effort.  After  two  more  vain  attempts  had 
been  made,  the  fifth  trial  proved  successful.  Through 
the  efforts  of  Mr.  Charles  Fay  of  the  Stone  Church 
forty  children  were  gathered  the  first  Sunday  in 
January,  1888,  in  the  Ohio  Business  College  on  Pearl 
[West  Twenty-fifth]  Street. 

Mr.  Fay  acted  under  the  direction  of  the  Reverend 
Wilton  Merle  Smith.  Previous  to  the  organization 
of  this  mission  the  Stone  Church  junior  pastor  had 
conferred  with  various  West  Side  ministers,  to  whom 
it  was  declared  that  there  was  no  immediate  inten- 
tion of  forming  a  church,  but  merely  of  meeting  the 
needs  of  a  neglected  class  of  children  and  to  furnish 
opportunity  for  Christian  service  to  West  Side  Pres- 
byterians, mainly  members  of  the  Stone  Church. 

The  project  received  the  endorsement  of  the  West 
Side  pastors,  and  within  six  months  the  mission  en- 
rolled four  hundred  pupils.  At  the  time  this  school 
was  inaugurated  the  Reverend  Giles  H.  Dunning  was 
called  to  assist  in  the  Stone  Church,  while  Dr.  Haydn 
was  giving  considerable  time  to  college  duties.  After 
frequent  requests  had  come  for  preaching  services, 
the  officers  of  the  Stone  Church  asked  the  Reverend 
Giles  H.  Dunning  to  canvass  the  West  Side  field. 
Having  become  convinced  that  the  time  had  arrived 
for  a  Presbyterian  congregation  west  of  the  river, 
Bethany  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  on  July 
2,  1889,  in  the  rooms  of  the  Ohio  Business  College, 
where  the  mission  had  started  eighteen  months  be- 
fore.   Of  the  sixty-one  charter  members  twenty-two 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  275 

came  from  the  Stone  Church.  The  Reverend  Giles  H. 
Dunning  left  the  mother  congregation  to  become  pas- 
tor of  Bethany  Church,  over  which  he  was  installed 
August  1,  1889.  For  five  years  the  new  enterprise 
worshiped  in  the  Wieber  Block,  but  on  April  1,  1894, 
a  site  was  purchased  at  a  cost  of  four  thousand  dol- 
lars at  the  corner  of  Gordon  Avenue  and  West  Clinton 
Street,  and  on  June  2,  1895,  a  ten  thousand  dollar 
chapel  was  dedicated.  The  Reverend  Giles  H.  Dun- 
ning was  succeeded  by  the  Reverend  Wilber  C. 
Mickey,  D.D.,  who  is  in  his  eighteenth  year  of  service. 

When  the  Reverend  Wilton  Merle-Smith  resigned 
on  April  1,  1889,  to  go  to  New  York  City,  the  mem- 
bership of  the  two  collegiate  churches  was  eleven  hun- 
dred seventy-three.  Within  four  months  the  Rev- 
erend Joseph  H.  Selden  was  called  from  Erie,  Pa.,  and 
installed  on  June  28,  1887.  The  Reverend  Edward 
G.  Selden,  brother  of  the  pastor-elect,  of  Springfield, 
Mass.,  delivered  the  sermon;  the  Reverend  Samuel 
P.  Sprecher,  D.D.,  of  the  Euclid  Avenue  Church,  gave 
both  charges  to  pastor  and  people;  while  the  Rev- 
erend Drs.  Hiram  C.  Haydn,  Chas.  S.  Pomeroy, 
Ebenezer  Bushnell,  and  Paul  F.  Sutphen  participated 
in  the  exercises. 

Having  launched  the  West  Side  church,  attention 
was  at  once  turned  to  the  strengthening  of  the  col- 
legiate type  of  church  life  by  erecting  for  Calvary 
Chapel  a  permanent  house  of  worship.  The  stone 
chapel  dedicated  in  1883  had  furnished  ample  facili- 
ties for  Sunday  worship,  the  original  wooden  building 
facing  Euclid  Avenue  having  been  used  for  the  pri- 


276  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

mary  Sunday  School  department,  until  at  a  cost  of 
five  thousand  dollars  the  stone  chapel  facing  East 
Seventy-ninth  Street  was  enlarged.  The  wooden 
relic  of  earlier  days  then  gave  way  to  the  elegant 
edifice  now  known  as  Calvary  Presbyterian  Church. 
Commenced  in  the  fall  of  1887  it  was  first  used  on 
January  5,  1890,  and  its  cost  was  eighty  thousand 
dollars. 

From  the  beginning  of  this  mission  in  1880  the 
mother  church  had,  besides  sharing  its  ministry,  in- 
vested in  the  enterprise  over  forty  thousand  dollars. 
Local  church  expenses,  however,  had  been  largely  met 
by  Calvary's  constituency. 

Before  the  Calvary  Mission's  edifice  had  been  suc- 
cessfully completed,  Dr.  Haydn,  while  still  bearing 
educational  burdens,  led  his  people  to  greater  church 
extension.  The  trustees  met  April  7,  1890,  and 
accepted  a  warranty  deed  for  a  lot  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  Cedar  and  Bolton  Avenues  [the  latter  now 
East  Eighty-ninth  Street].  Elders  J.  E.  Upson,  James 
W.  Stewart,  and  L.  W.  Bingham  were  appointed  to 
build  a  chapel  on  this  site,  provided  no  debt  was 
incurred. 

The  trustees  also  resolved  that  the  pastoral  care 
of  the  new  chapel  should  not  rest  entirely  upon  Dr. 
Haydn  or  his  assistant.  Thus  on  April  14,  1890,  the 
trustees  sanctioned  the  calling  of  an  assistant  pastor 
at  a  salary  not  to  exceed  two  thousand  dollars,  to  be 
supported  equally  by  the  Old  Stone  and  Calvary 
congregations,  but  on  condition  that  he  reside  west 
of  Huntington  Street    [East  Eighteenth  Street]  and 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  277 

devote  all  his  time,  with  the  exception  of  preaching, 
to  the  down-town  parish. 

The  trustees  received  on  September  15,   1890,  a 
recommendation  from  the  session  that  the  Reverend 
Burt  Estes  Howard,  of  Bay  City,  Mich.,  be  called  as 
an  assistant,  at  a  salary  of  twenty-five  hundred  dol- 
lars.   During  the  fall  of  1890,  through  the  leadership 
of  Dr.  Haydn,  a  chapel  had  been  erected  on  the 
Bolton  Avenue  site.    The  fifteen  thousand  dollars 
expense   for  both  site  and   building  was  borne  by 
the  Old   Stone  and  Calvary  congregations,  and  so 
three   collegiate   constituencies,   the   Stone   Church, 
Calvary,  and   Bolton  Chapels,  were  created.    The 
Reverend  Burt  Estes  Howard  was  installed  on  De- 
cember 12,  1890,  according  to  the  following  exercises: 
To  preside,  Rev.  E.  P.  Cleaveland,  moderator;  to  preach 
the  sermon,  Rev.  Wilton  Merle-Smith  of  New  York  Pres- 
bytery; to  charge  the  pastor,   Rev.   Hiram   C.   Haydn, 
D.D.;  to  charge  the  people,  Rev.  Chas.  S.  Pomeroy,  D.D. 

The  total  membership  of  the  three  collegiate  churches 
increased  in  1891  to  eleven  hundred  ninety-five,  and 
the  next  year  to  thirteen  hundred  thirty-eight  com- 
municants, with  eleven  hundred  seventy  pupils  in  the 
Sunday  Schools. 

No  sooner  had  the  Bolton  Avenue  Chapel  been 
finished  than  the  Stone  Church  improved  her  own 
Sunday  School  facilities.  The  trustees  appointed  on 
April  27,  1891,  Messrs.  Martyn  Bonnell,  D.  R.  Tay- 
lor, and  C.  O.  Scott  a  committee  to  erect  at  a  cost 
of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  a  new  chapel  north  of  the 
church  auditorium.  A  year  later  the  sum  of  seventeen 
hundred  dollars  more  was  raised  to  finish  the  chapel. 


278  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  collegiate  existence  of  three  congregations 
proved  to  have  been  at  best  a  temporary  policy  de- 
signed to  give  the  two  natural  outgrowths  of  the 
mother  church  as  good  a  start  as  possible.  The  rapid 
growth  of  Calvary  Chapel  soon  prompted  her  mem- 
bers to  seek  independence.  At  a  union  meeting  of 
the  sessions  and  boards  of  trustees  of  the  three  con- 
gregations, held  on  March  21,  1892,  the  collegiate 
system  was  thoroughly  discussed,  and  finally  Elder 
George  H.  Ely  made  the  motion: 

Resolved,  that  the  tripHcate  relation  now  existing  between 
the  three  churches  be  dissolved. 

After  long  discussion   the   following,   presented   by 
Judge  Samuel  E.  Williamson,  was  adopted: 

Resolved,  that  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  the  present 
collegiate  relation  of  the  congregations  of  this  church 
be  dissolved;  that  three  churches  and  societies  be  formed 
with  pastors  for  each;  that  the  Stone  Church  congrega- 
tion should  have  Dr.  Haydn  as  its  pastor,  with  an  assist- 
ant, and  that  the  Stone  and  Calvary  congregations 
should  give  Bolton  Chapel  needed  assistance,  until  it 
also  is  able  to  be  self-sustaining. 

Articles  of  Incorporation  signed  by  J.  H.  McBride, 
L.  W.  Bingham,  J.  H.  Danforth,  and  J.  E.  Upson, 
were  obtained  on  May  3,  1892,  and  Sunday  afternoon. 
May  22, 1892,  commissioners  of  Cleveland  Presbytery 
organized  Calvary  Presbyterian  Church,  with  three 
hundred  eight  members  from  the  Stone  Church,  two 
from  Woodland  Avenue,  and  one  from  the  Case  Ave- 
nue Church,  a  total  of  three  hundred  eleven  charter 
communicants.   This  was  a  propitious  beginning  sel- 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  279 

dom  enjoyed  by  a  new  church.  The  Reverend  David 
O.  Mears,  D.D.,  the  first  pastor,  was  installed  on 
April  23,  1893,  and  during  his  brief  service  of  a  little 
over  two  years  three  hundred  members  were  added, 
two  hundred  forty-three  having  been  received  by 
letter,  showing  how  prolific  the  community  was  with 
church  members  who  having  moved  to  a  new  locality 
were  ready  to  find  a  new  church  home.  In  this  cen- 
tennial year  the  Reverend  Adelbert  P.  Higley,  D.D., 
is  pastor  of  the  flourishing  Calvary  Presbyterian 
Church. 

The  Reverend  Joseph  H.  Selden,  who  had  been 
associate  pastor  for  five  years,  resigned  on  June  6, 
1892,  in  order  to  accept  a  call  to  the  Congregational 
Church,  Elgin,  111.,  and  to  allow  Calvary  Church  at 
the  time  of  its  formal  organization  to  select  a  new 
pastor. 

When  the  Reverend  Joseph  H.  Selden  presented 
his  resignation,  that  of  the  Reverend  Burt  Estes 
Howard  was  also  offered,  and  on  June  10,  1892,  it 
was  accepted,  he  having  received  a  call  to  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  Before 
either  of  these  pastoral  relations  had  been  dissolved, 
steps  had  been  taken  to  secure  two  new  assistants, 
one  to  aid  Dr.  Haydn  in  the  Stone  Church  and  the 
other  to  care  for  Bolton  Avenue  Chapel.  The  Rev- 
erend Robert  A.  George,  pastor  of  the  First  United 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Cleveland,  was  invited  to 
take  charge  of  the  Bolton  Avenue  Chapel,  but  he  was 
not  installed.  The  Reverend  William  A.  Knight,  how- 
ever, was  called  from  the  Madison  Avenue  Congre- 


280  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

gational  Church  of  Cleveland  and  installed  as  assis- 
tant in  the  Stone  Church.  The  Reverend  Paul  F. 
Sutphen,  D.D.,  preached  the  sermon;  the  Reverend 
Hiram  C.  Haydn,  D.D.,  charged  the  pastor,  and  the 
Reverend  James  D.  Williamson,  D.D.,  the  people. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  held  on  May  16,  1892 
Dr.  Haydn  read  a  characteristic  communication  re- 
garding the  necessity  of  improving  financial  condi- 
tions at  the  Stone  Church.    He  said: 

They  need  to  be  improved  for  we  do  not  make  ends  meet. 
The  reason  is  incident  to  our  location  as  a  down-town 
church.  The  situation  can  be  improved  in  two  ways. 
First  by  a  partial  endowment,  say  of  fifty  to  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars,  that  is  already  begun  in  the  Mygatt 
fund,  and  individual  gifts  amounting  to  about  ten  thou- 
sand dollars.  This  should  be  increased  by  gifts  of  the 
living  and  by  bequests  until  if  possible  seventy-five  thou- 
sand dollars  is  reached.  The  service  can  then  be  main- 
tained at  its  best  for  a  hundred  years  or  more.  It  may 
also  be  said  that  it  is  desirable  that  so  far  as  the  owners 
may  be  willing,  property  rights  in  the  pews  be  quit- 
claimed to  the  trustees,  the  present  holders  to  retain 
their  right  to  occupy  them  so  long  as  they  elect.  Nobody 
nowadays  builds  churches  to  be  owned  this  way.  Of 
course  this  must  be  voluntary  if  at  all.  Secondly  the 
present  system  of  assessment  should  be  abandoned,  and 
subscriptions  of  so  much  a  week  solicited  to  keep  this 
old  church  open  at  its  best. 

In  the  light  of  this  recommendation  adopted  by  the 
trustees.  Dr.  Haydn  was  not  anticipating  the  aban- 
donment of  the  ancient  church  site  for  centuries  to 
come. 

A  year  later  at  the  time  of  building  the  Chamber  of 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  281 

Commerce  edifice,  a  movement  arose  to  supplant  the 
Stone  Church.  This  prompted  Cleveland  Presbytery 
to  pass  this  minute: 

The  Presbytery  unanimously  adopted  a  paper  earnestly 
protesting  its  hope  that  the  trustees  and  congregation  of 
the  Old  Stone  Church  will  refuse  to  sell  the  property  to 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  as  now  desired,  since  we 
believe  it  is  needed  now,  and  has  a  mission  no  less  than 
in  the  years  gone  by. 

The  narrative  of  events  during  the  second  pastorate 
of  Dr.  Haydn  presents  him  as  an  ever-moving,  pro- 
pelling force,  continuing  the  best  possible  service  in 
the  down-town  church,  bearing  the  transitional  bur- 
dens of  a  new  university,  and  at  the  same  time  exhort- 
ing members  of  the  Stone  Church  to  give  themselves 
and  their  money  for  church  extension,  if  perchance 
the  latter  might  keep  pace  with  the  swiftly  growing 
city. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  collegiate  type  of  church 
organization,  the  Stone  and  Calvary  Churches  gave 
their  special  fostering  care  to  the  Bolton  Avenue 
Chapel.  The  road,  however,  to  the  independence  of 
the  Bolton  Avenue  Church  proved  rough  and  some- 
what disastrous.  The  congregation  and  Sunday 
School  grew  until  in  addition  to  the  chapel  accom- 
modations a  church  auditorium  had  become  impera- 
tive. During  the  church  year  1893-1894  a  church 
edifice  was  constructed  at  a  cost  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  and  dedicated  on  November  8,  1894,  but 
in  the  spring  of  that  year  the  congregation  was  rent 
in  twain,  when  more  than  half  the  members  and  the 
greater  portion  of  the  Sunday  School  withdrew,  with 


282  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  Reverend  Robert  A.  George,  to  form  the  Trinity 
Congregational  Church,  The  immediate  cause  of  the 
division  was  an  attempt  of  the  Stone  Church  officers 
to  close  the  supply  service  of  the  Reverend  R.  A. 
George,  in  hope  of  securing  a  permanent  pastor  in 
whom  the  parish  might  be  fully  united,  by  the  time 
the  new  church  was  completed. 

The  disruption  was  somewhat  spectacular.  The 
seceders  built  within  a  week  a  long  shed-like  building 
upon  a  Bolton  Avenue  lot  just  north  of  their  former 
place  of  worship,  and  there  services  were  held  until 
permanent  quarters  could  be  constructed  on  Cedar 
Avenue,  west  of  the  Bolton  Avenue  Church.  As  long 
as  the  participants  in  this  division  remained  in  the 
congregation  there  was  considerable  strength,  but 
after  their  removal  and  the  coming  of  radical  changes 
in  the  community  the  church  became  so  weak  that 
in  recent  years  it  has  been  difficult  to  support  a  pas- 
tor. The  polemic  Congregational  church,  further- 
more, was  organized  on  the  border  of  the  Euclid 
Avenue  Congregational  parish  to  the  north  and  east, 
and  almost  on  the  territory  of  another  Congregational 
church  to  the  southwest.  Recent  attempts  have  been 
made  to  unite  the  Bolton  Avenue  Presbyterian  and 
the  Trinity  Congregational  Churches,  but  the  efforts 
thus  far  have  proven  futile. 

In  June  of  1894  the  Bolton  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church  extended  a  call  to  the  Reverend  John  Sheri- 
dan Zelie,  of  the  Congregational  Church,  Plymouth, 
Conn.,  and  around  him  the  numerically  weakened 
congregation    rallied.     It    became    an    independent 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  283 

church  on  May  3,  1896,  when  one  hundred  seventy- 
one  members  were  received  from  the  mother  church, 
and  on  the  same  day  the  Reverend  John  Sheridan 
ZeHe  was  installed  pastor.  This  service  of  installation 
differed  a  little  from  the  usual  formal  exercises. 
Instead  of  a  sermon  and  charges  to  the  pastor  and 
people,  addresses  were  delivered  by  the  Reverend 
Ebenezer  Bushnell,  D.D.,  stated  clerk  of  Presbytery; 
by  the  Reverend  Robert  G.  Hutchins,  D.D.,  pastor 
of  the  Woodland  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
by  Elder  Harry  A.  Garfield,  of  the  Euclid  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church,  now  president  of  Williams  Col- 
lege. In  this  centennial  year  of  the  mother  church 
the  Reverend  Elliot  Field,  D.D.,  is  pastor  of  the 
Bolton  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 

While  the  Stone  Church  pastor  and  officers  were 
fostering  Calvary  and  Bolton  Avenue  Chapels,  other 
new  enterprises  were  attracting  their  attention.  The 
North  Church,  formed  by  a  colony  from  the  Stone 
Church,  still  received  aid,  although  an  independent 
congregation.  The  South  Presbyterian  Church  on 
Scranton  Road,  corner  of  Prame  Avenue,  grew  from 
a  mission  Sunday  School  started  in  the  latter  part 
of  1890  by  the  Reverend  William  Gaston,  D.D.,  of 
the  North  Church.  The  Presbyterian  Union  assumed 
direct  control  of  the  enterprise  and  employed  the 
Reverend  James  D.  Corwin  to  take  charge  of  the 
mission,  in  connection  with  a  similar  enterprise  of  the 
North  Church  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  city. 
The  South  Church  was  organized  on  January  21, 
1892,  and  today  has  a  substantial  church  edifice,  con- 


284  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

structed  during  the  pastorate  of  the  Reverend  George 
A.  Mackintosh,  D.D.  The  present  pastor  is  the  Rev- 
erend Harry  H.  Bergen. 

The  other  mission  in  which  Dr.  WilHam  Gaston  and 
his  people  had  become  interested  was  a  Sunday  School 
organized  on  January  6,  1890,  on  Becker  Avenue. 
After  the  Reverend  James  D.  Corwin  had  accepted  a 
call  to  become  the  first  pastor  of  the  South  Church, 
the  Reverend  Charles  L.  Chalfant  came  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  take  charge  of  the  Becker  Avenue  Mission, 
under  the  direction  of  the  North  Church  session.  This 
was  organized  into  the  Madison  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church  on  September  14,  1892,  with  ninety  charter 
members,  sixty-four  of  whom  came  from  the  North 
Church. 

While  the  personal  workers  in  the  new  enterprise 
were  members  of  the  North  Church,  financial  support 
came  mainly  from  the  Stone  and  Calvary  churches. 
Through  the  instrumentality  of  Dr.  Haydn  over  nine 
thousand  dollars  was  raised  in  these  two  congrega- 
tions for  the  new  enterprise.  The  Madison  Avenue 
Church  afterwards  became  the  Westminster  Presby- 
terian Church,  which  occupies  a  completed  church 
edifice  located  on  Wade  Park  Avenue,  corner  of  Addi- 
son Road.  The  Reverend  Basil  R.  King  is  the  present 
pastor. 

In  the  fall  of  1892,  through  the  farseeing  action  of 
Dr.  Haydn,  another  religious  enterprise  was  launched. 
Having  noticed  the  drift  of  population  toward  East 
Cleveland,  or  what  had  been  known  as  CoUamer, 
Dr.  Haydn  purchased  a  lot  at  the  southeast  corner 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  285 

of  Euclid  Avenue  and  Windermere  Street,  repeating 
what  he  had  done  in  starting  the  Bolton  Avenue 
Church.  The  property  was  transferred  to  the  Pres- 
byterian Union,  which  constructed  a  chapel  at  once. 
This  was  opened  for  worship  on  May  6,  1894,  and 
cost  almost  eight  thousand  dollars. 

This  new  field  was  united  with  another  whose  in- 
ception came  early  in  1893.  Dr.  William  Gaston,  of 
the  North  Church,  having  members  residing  in  the 
Glenville  section,  fostered  a  cottage  prayer-meeting 
in  the  home  of  Dr.  Irwin  C.  Carlisle  on  Doan,  near 
St.  Clair  Street.  A  Sunday  School  was  organized  in  a 
schoolhouse  on  June  25,  1893.  Later  Sunday  after- 
noon sessions  were  held  in  the  Disciple  Church,  and 
these  were  followed  by  preaching  services  by  various 
city  pastors.  At  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Haydn  the  Glen- 
ville Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  on  June  10, 
1894,  and  the  Reverend  Charles  L.  Zorbaugh  was 
called  to  assume  charge  of  the  Windermere  and  Glen- 
ville congregations.  The  Glenville  Church  entered 
its  fine  stone  chapel  at  the  corner  of  Doan  and  Helena 
Streets  on  May  15,  1895.  This  edifice  was  financed 
largely  by  leading  members  of  the  Stone  Church  and 
by  the  late  Elder  Louis  H.  Severance,  of  the  Wood- 
land Avenue  Church.  The  original  chapel  has  been 
greatly  enlarged,  and  the  Reverend  Arthur  H.  Limouze 
is  the  present  pastor. 

The  Reverend  Charles  L.  Zorbaugh  then  devoted 
all  his  time  to  the  Windermere  Chapel,  the  Reverend 
T.  Y.  Gardner  having  been  elected  pastor  of  the 
Glenville  Church.    For  some  time  the  Windermere 


286  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

enterprise  had  to  await  the  coming  of  a  surrounding 
population,  but  many  famiUes  soon  settled  in  the 
locality  and  on  January  5,  1896,  the  Windermere 
Presbyterian  Church  was  formed  with  thirty  charter 
members.  The  Reverend  Charles  L.  Zorbaugh  was 
installed  on  February  10,  1896,  as  the  first  pastor  and 
remained  fifteen  years  in  charge  of  the  parish.  The 
original  chapel  is  now  a  small  part  of  the  fine  church 
edifice  and  Sunday  School  building.  Of  the  flourish- 
ing congregation  the  Reverend  Louis  F.  Ruf  is  now 
pastor. 

In  the  work  of  strengthening  older  churches  Dr. 
Haydn  was  as  alert  as  he  was  in  founding  new  ones. 
The  Beckwith  Memorial  Church  constructed  in  1891 
its  main  building  at  a  cost  of  twenty-six  thousand 
dollars.  At  the  dedication  on  May  15,  1892,  the 
Reverend  Charles  S.  Pomeroy,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  which  Mr.  T.  S.  Beck- 
with was  for  many  years  an  elder,  delivered  the  ser- 
mon in  the  afternoon  and  Dr.  Haydn  occupied  the 
pulpit  in  the  evening.  While  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  members  furnished  the  greater  financial 
assistance,  thanks  were  publicly  expressed  to  "the 
pastors  and  members  of  the  Second  and  Old  Stone 
Churches." 

To  the  senior  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church  the  East 
Cleveland  Presbyterian  Church  likewise  looked  for 
financial  inspiration,  when  after  eighty-eight  years  of 
existence  that  congregation  undertook  to  construct 
the  fine  stone  edifice  which  was  dedicated  on  Nov- 
ber  3,  1895.  This  modern  church  building  supplanted 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  287 

the  one  of  New  England  meeting-house  type  con- 
structed in  1820,  the  year  that  witnessed  the  birth  of 
the  Stone  Church. 

During  all  this  era  of  vigorous  expansion  Dr.  Haydn 
rejoiced  in  the  improvements  made  in  the  mother 
church.  Early  in  1893  thanks  were  expressed  by  the 
trustees  to  Mr.  W.  S.  Tyler  for  his  "presentation  of 
a  screen  of  oak  and  stained  glass  to  provide  better 
protection  of  the  congregation  from  the  draught  en- 
tering the  front  doors." 

A  South  Water  Street  lot  deeded  to  the  church  by 
the  George  Mygatt  estate  was  sold  in  1887  for  five 
thousand  dollars  and  the  amount  applied  to  the 
general  endowment  fund.  At  the  same  time  mention 
was  made  of  the  Eliza  Giddings  legacy,  and  the 
trustees  sold  a  lot  on  Aaron  Street,  the  former  site  of 
the  North  Church,  for  three  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars,  showing  that  the  land  had  never  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  North  Church  society.  At  a  session 
meeting  held  on  March  19,  1894,  Dr.  Haydn  an- 
nounced that  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Clark  had  left  the  Stone 
Church  seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 

A  letter  from  Mrs.  S.  V.  Harkness  was  read  by  Dr. 
Haydn  in  October  of  1895,  ofi^ering  a  six  thousand 
dollar  organ  in  memory  of  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Flor- 
ence Harkness  Severance.  Grateful  acknowledgment 
of  the  memorial  gift  was  made  by  the  trustees,  who 
authorized  Dr.  Haydn  to  dispose  of  the  old  organ  in 
any  way  that  he  might  see  fit,  and  to  use  the  proceeds 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Bolton  Avenue  Chapel.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  systematic  support  of  every  benevolent 


288  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Union  of  Cleveland  the  Stone  Church  min- 
utes frequently  record  special  gifts  to  churches,  such 
as  South  New  Lyme,  Parma,  Akron  Central,  Beth- 
any, and  North  congregations. 

The  only  record  of  a  home  missionary  opportunity 
that  escaped  Dr.  Haydn  was  the  offer  of  Patrick  Cal- 
houn, made  in  the  early  part  of  1897.  This  was  a  lot 
said  to  be  valued  at  ten  thousand  dollars  and  five 
thousand  dollars  in  cash,  providing  the  Stone  Church 
would  back  an  enterprise  on  Euclid  Heights  with  a 
like  amount.  This  offer  was  referred  by  the  trustees 
to  the  extension  committee  of  the  Presbyterian  Union, 
but  was  never  accepted. 

The  zeal  of  Dr.  Haydn  for  foreign  missions,  as  seen 
in  his  first  settlement  in  the  Stone  Church  and  in  the 
service  which  he  rendered  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  came  to  a 
natural  climax  during  the  second  pastorate.  The 
origin  of  that  enthusiasm  for  religious  work  abroad 
came  very  early  in  his  life,  according  to  these  words: 

I  was  always  in  for  foreign  missions,  and  well  do  I  re- 
member how  in  the  winter  of  1850  a  little  handful  of 
people  waited  upon  God  around  the  stove  in  one  corner 
of  a  big  meeting-house,  and  prayed  that  the  last  half 
of  the  century  might  be  signalized  by  a  marvellous 
spread  of  the  gospel;  that  doors  might  be  opened  and 
a  highway  thrown  up  for  the  coming  King  among  all 
peoples.  How  Httle  was  then  really  known  of  Asia  and 
Africa  seems  scarcely  credible  in  the  light  of  the  present, 
with  Africa  parcelled  out  among  European  powers,  and 
traversed  from  center  to  circumference. 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  289 

In  view  of  Dr.  Haydn's  love  of  foreign  missionary 
endeavor  and  his  ceaseless  activity  in  behalf  of  home 
missions,  no  one  could  parry  the  force  of  his  foreign 
missionary  appeals  with  the  retort  that  he  first  ''sweep 
before  his  own  door." 

The  Stone  Church  trustees  received  from  Dr. 
Haydn,  March  24,  1894,  a  communication  containing 
these  lines: 

This  is  my  tenth  year  of  the  second  term  of  service. 
I  am  fagged  out  and  need  a  rest.  I  therefore  ask  that 
I  be  allowed  to  run  at  large  the  last  three  months  of  the 
year  that  ends  in  September.  I  do  not  wish  the  society 
to  incur  any  extra  expense,  and  therefore  I  will  stand 
the  charge  over  and  above  the  vacation  to  which  I  am 
entitled. 

This  request  was  granted,  but  no  lessening  of  the 
salary  was  permitted.  At  the  same  meeting  the 
trustees  expressed  the  gratitude  of  the  church  to  Mrs. 
Amasa  Stone  for  her  generous  gift  of  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  to  the  endowment  fund.  Part  of  the  formal 
expression  of  thanks  was: 

The  society  is  under  renewed  obligations  to  Mrs.  Stone 
for  the  ability  to  maintain  a  house  of  worship  upon  the 
old  site  and  to  continue  there  the  work  which  becomes 
constantly  more  important  with  the  growth  of  the  city 
and  the  gradual  change  in  the  location  of  churches  and 
homes,  and  which  is  rendered  sacred  by  its  association 
with  the  names  of  so  many  who  have  found  the  Stone 
Church  a  blessing  to  themselves  and  have  made  it  a 
blessing  to  the  world. 

On  the  eve  of  his  three  months'  leave  of  absence 
in  Europe,  Dr.  Haydn  delivered  a  tenth  anniversary 


290  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

sermon  on  June  10,  1894.    Extracts  from  this  sum- 
mary are  interesting: 

We  are  face  to  face  this  morning  with  a  ten  years*  pas- 
torate -  my  second  in  this  place.  When  I  thought  by 
your  gracious  suffrages  to  return  my  friends  in  New  York 
shook  their  heads  -  "a  second  pastorate  is  a  riskful  thing 
to  undertake."  One  of  the  best  and  wisest  friends 
asked  if  I  thought  I  could  "be  happy  in  Cleveland  having 
lived  in  New  York?"  My  answer  was  that  I  thought 
I  could  be  happy  where  my  work  was.  So  I  came  back 
in  ardent  hopefulness.  The  story  of  these  years  is  not 
that  of  a  single  congregation  nor  an  individual  pastorate, 
but  one  in  association  with  young  men  in  the  ministry  of 
a  church  with  one  branch,  and  then  two  and  in  close 
affiliation  with  the  North  Church,  our  child.  We  have 
had  in  the  fellowship  of  this  ministry  good  men  and 
true  who  have  gone  into  other  fields,  in  some  cases  of 
conspicuous  usefulness.  We  have  seen  Calvary  housed 
and  made  independent  and  prosperous,  and  the  Bolton 
Avenue  congregation  will  soon  be  rejoicing  in  their  new 
church  and  independent  existence.  We  have  not  been 
exclusively  caring  for  our  own  things,  but  broadly  look- 
ing at  the  work  of  the  kingdom  in  our  city  and  the  world. 
This  has  called  for  a  willingness  to  surrender  our  mem- 
bers, and  to  invest  our  money,  in  the  interest  of  a  wider 
reach  of  influence  for  good.  We  have  dismissed  our  mem- 
bership not  only  singly,  but  in  bodies  of  twenty-two,  one 
hundred  and  thirty  and  three  hundred  to  constitute 
other  churches.  In  all  nine  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
have  gone  out  from  us  by  letter.  Naturally  our  attention 
is  turned  to  the  changes  in  our  ranks.  These  have  been 
both  many  and  serious.  There  have  been  removed  by 
death  one  hundred  and  two.  Of  these  seven  had  been 
elders  and  six  in  active  service  during  a  part  of  this 
period  -  Messrs.  Mygatt,  Vail,  Coe,  Fuller,  Foot,  Sack- 
rider,  Ely;   two  had  served  as  trustees,  Messrs.  Harvey 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  291 

and  Ely;  two  as  treasurer  of  the  society,  Messrs.  Charles 
and  William  Whitaker,  father  and  son;  one,  Arthur 
Cutter,  was  clerk  of  session.  Of  laymen  there  were  Messrs. 
John  Proudfoot,  Col.  Chas.  Whittlesey,  Lyman  Strong, 
George  Freeman,  Dr.  E.  Cushing;  nor  should  we  fail 
to  mention  those  worthy  and  useful  men,  Messrs.  Austin, 
Burt,  and  John  L.  Woods,  two  of  them  trustees.  And  of 
honorable  women,  Mesdames  Weddell,  Foot,  Sarah  and 
"Aunt  Abby"  Fitch.  Andrews,  Whitelaw,  Whittlesey, 
Strong,  Kidder,  Smyth,  Thome,  Woods,  Merrill,  Neil, 
Van  Ness,  Clark,  Starkweather,  Herrick.  The  ages  of  a 
considerable  portion  of  these  ranged  from  seventy-five 
to  ninety-nine  years.  Many  were  octogenarians  whose 
connection  with  the  church  ranged  back  to  the  days  of 
small  but  mighty  things,  and  to  the  village  estate  of  our 
city.  The  mention  of  these  names -how  it  turns  the 
leaves  of  memory,  and  the  dear  images  of  our  departed 
rise  up  before  us  to  receive  our  salutation  and  to  bid  us 
be  of  good  cheer.  And  there  is  a  little  circle  of  young 
women  who  seemed  to  have  been  cut  off  in  an  untimely 
way  -  Lillie  Wick  Crowell,  Allie  G.  White,  Flora  Tennis, 
Kittie  Worley,  Elsie  McKay,  Emma  Welch,  Daisy  Brown 
Eddy.  Oh,  the  tears  and  the  triumphs  that  are  strewn 
along  the  pathway  of  a  decade  of  years!  We  have  received 
into  our  fellowship  b}"  confession  of  faith  five  hundred 
and  ninety-one,  and  by  letter  six  hundred  and  twenty-five, 
a  total  of  twelve  hundred  and  sixteen.  There  have  been 
under  instruction  in  Sunday  Schools,  yearly,  from  six 
hundred  and  ninety-seven  to  one  thousand  three  hundred 
and  twenty-six.  We  have  disbursed  one  million,  two 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand,  five  hundred  and  forty 
dollars,  largely  to  the  work  of  higher  education  and  to 
church  building  within  the  city.  Just  a  word  in  conclu- 
sion. The  providence  of  God  still  gives  to  this  church 
a  loyal  constituency.  Loyal  souls  have  nobly  stood 
behind  to  make  our  exchequer  equal  to  our  real  needs. 


292  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Loyal  souls  have  looked  ahead  and  anticipated  future 
needs,  and  the  endowment  began  by  Elder  George  Mygatt 
has  grown  till  we  found  a  month  ago  that  we  prospectively 
possessed  resources  which  will  put  us  on  vantage  ground. 
Is  it  not  a  call  to  broaden  our  work  right  here,  and  to  put 
ourselves  as  wisely  and  lovingly  as  we  can  into  helpful 
relations  to  the  people  of  this  central  district?  I  so  in- 
terpret the  call  of  providence  to  us,  for  I  do  not  believe 
that  we  are  to  have  a  fund  of  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  will  yet  be  increased,  that  we  may  sit  down 
at  ease  and  think  only  of  ourselves.  My  gratitude  for  the 
past,  with  all  its  labors  and  trials,  is  unbounded,  while 
I  thank  God  that  these  ten  years  lie  behind  and  not  before 
me.  May  He  keep  us  all  in  His  love.  Truly,  truly,  "in 
the  Cross  of  Christ  I  glory,  towering  o'er  the  wrecks  of 
time."  Truly  do  I  say  and  mean  it;  I  am  determined  not 
to  know  anything  among  you,  but  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified.    To  Him  be  glory  the  livelong  ages  through. 

One  of  the  most  faithful  members  of  the  Stone 
Church,  the  Honorable  George  H.  Ely,  passed  away 
in  the  early  part  of  1894.  He  had  come  to  Cleveland 
in  1863,  when  he  was  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  from 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  where  he  had  been  engaged  in  large 
business  ventures.  To  the  end  of  life  he  was  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  Lake  Superior  iron  ore 
trade.  So  keen  became  his  knowledge  of  the  industry 
that  he  was  the  natural  spokesman  on  all  occasions 
for  those  engaged  in  that  line  of  business.  Mr.  Ely 
served  as  state  senator,  and  prominent  charitable  in- 
stitutions sought  his  aid,  knowing  that  public  confi- 
dence could  be  secured  if  it  were  known  that  he  had 
assumed  responsibility  for  the  execution  of  their 
trusts.    He  was  president  of  Lakeside  Hospital  and 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  293 

a  trustee  of  Adelbert  College  and  Western  Reserve 
University.  The  Stone  Church  received  long  and 
devoted  service  from  this  trustee  and  elder,  and  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  George  R.  Garretson,  remains  one  of 
the  most  active  members  of  the  old  church. 

The  Reverend  B.  F.  Shuart,  who  before  ordination 
served  from  1877  to  1880  as  a  lay  assistant,  was  re- 
employed on  December  26,  1894,  to  assist  Dr.  Haydn 
for  six  months,  and  on  February  25,  1895,  Dr.  Haydn 
"spoke  to  the  trustees  of  the  work  of  Mr.  Shuart,  also 
outlining  the  work  that  he  thought  ought  to  be  done 
and  saying  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jackson  would  come 
for  a  few  months  if  considered  expedient."  The  clos- 
ing words  of  Dr.  Haydn  were,  *'The  time  has  come  to 
consider  deliberately  the  call  of  a  man  to  look  to  the 
front."  This  was  the  first  intimation  from  the  veteran 
pastor  of  the  Stone  Church  that  he  was  contemplating 
the  inevitable  closing  of  a  strenuous  ministry.  This 
did  not  come,  however,  for  a  number  of  years. 

The  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of 
the  Stone  Church  was  observed  October  20  to  24, 
1895,  by  a  week  of  carefully  planned  exercises.  For- 
mer members,  as  well  as  living  communicants,  were 
invited  to  the  celebration  by  a  committee  composed 
of  Dr.  Haydn,  W.  P.  Stanton,  Reuben  F.  Smith, 
Edwin  C.  Higbee,  Herbert  E.  Brooks,  Mrs.  George 
W.  Gardner,  Mrs.  L.  Austin,  and  Mrs.  S.  P.  Fenn. 
The  committee  on  program  consisted  of  Dr.  H.  C. 
Haydn,  Richard  C.  Parsons,  Reuben  F.  Smith,  Sereno 
P.  Fenn,  Charles  L.  Kimball,  Mrs.  H.  Kirke  Cushing, 
and  Mrs.  George  W.  Gardner.    The  members  of  the 


294  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

committee  on  finance  were  Samuel  A.  Raymond, 
Frank  Herrick,  Mrs.  W.  S.  Tyler,  and  Mrs.  J.  V. 
Painter.  The  intense  interest  of  Dr.  Haydn  in  this 
anniversary  was  evidenced  by  the  delivery  of  a  ser- 
mon in  July  designed  to  awake  ge  neral  attention  to 
the  coming  event. 

No  adequate  history  of  this  church  and  society  should 
fail  to  tell  our  relation  to  higher  education  in  this  city 
and  elsewhere,  of  which  it  suffices  to  say  that  within 
seventeen  years  we  have  put  into  this  cause  two  million 
nine  hundred  and  nine  thousand  dollars.  Into  our  church 
we  have  received  from  the  first  members  and  pew-holders 
three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-one;  and  the 
present  enrollment  is  nine  hundred  and  forty-seven.  We 
are  not  as  numerous  as  we  were,  and  the  stated  income 
from  pews  is  less  than  once  it  was,  and  the  workers  are 
fewer,  but  the  audiences  morning  and  evening  are  up 
to  the  average  of  former  years;  the  bulk  of  our  charities 
has  not  dwindled,  and  the  work  in  hand  was  never  greater 
or  more  necessary  to  be  done,  or  more  immediately  fruit- 
ful of  desired  results. 

In  closing  this  anticipatory  address  Dr.  Haydn  said : 
Let  us  determine  that  this  anniversary  year  shall  be  used, 
not  mainly  in  retrospect  and  vain  regrets,  but  in  a  resolute 
and  courageous  grappling  with  the  work  to  be  done,  with 
not  a  thought  but  that  the  next  twenty-five  years  that 
round  out  a  century  for  this  old  church  may  be  the  best 
of  the  hundred.  We  shall  not  go  to  the  end  of  this  period, 
but  God  willing  we  can  help  to  make  it  such;  and,  more- 
over, make  it  in  our  time  possible  for  them  who  live  to 
see  that  day  come  to  it  with  songs  of  rejoicing  and  the 
trophies  of  war. 

On  Sunday  morning,  October  13,   1895,  a  week 
prior  to  the  formal  celebration,  Dr.  Haydn  preached 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  295 

on  "The  Continuity  of  Life  and  Influence,"  showing 
how  deeply  he  had  imbibed  the  spirit  of  the  approach- 
ing occasion,  and  how  thoroughly  he  had  searched 
church  annals  for  historical  material.  The  inter- 
dependence of  reaper  with  sower,  or  the  interlinking 
of  the  generations,  was  the  theme  of  this  second  pre- 
liminary discourse. 

The  anniversary  week  commenced  with  the  Sunday 
School  session  held  on  Sunday  morning,  October  20, 
1895.  This  consisted  of  short  talks  from  Messrs.  Tru- 
man P.  Handy,  Francis  C.  Keith,  Reuben  F.  Smith, 
Henry  N.  Raymond,  Edwin  C.  Higbee,  Dr.  C.  F. 
Dutton,  and  Dr.  Hiram  C.  Haydn.  These  speakers 
were  seven  of  the  sixteen  known  superintendents  who 
until  that  time  had  served  the  Stone  Church  Sunday 
School.  The  other  nine  were  Elisha  Taylor,  John  A. 
Foot,  George  Mygatt,  George  H.  Ely,  F.  M.  Backus, 
William  Slade,  Jr.,  Thomas  Maynard,  Henry  M. 
Flagler  and  Charles  L.  Kimball,  at  the  time  of  the 
celebration  the  acting  superintendent. 

The  text  of  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  sermon 
delivered  by  Dr.  Hiram  C.  Haydn  at  the  morning 
hour  of  worship  was  Isaiah  60  :  23 : 

The  little  one  shall  become  a  thousand,  and  the  small 
one  a  strong  nation;  I,  the  Lord,  will  hasten  it  in  its  time. 

The  closing  lines  of  this  discourse  were: 

The  fathers  have  fallen  on  sleep,  but  they  fell  in  their 
tracks,  they  fell  face  forward;  some  of  them  put  into  our 
hands  treasure  to  be  used  for  them  right  here,  and  said, 
"By  this  would  I  live  on  and  work  with  you  and  them 
that   come   after   you."   These   speaking   windows,  these 


296  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

tablets  on  the  wall,  these  portraits,  the  pealing  notes  of 
the  new  organ  -  let  us  have  more  of  such  things,  remem- 
bering how  they  who  sow  and  they  who  reap  are  to  re- 
joice together  -  builders  all,  the  work  of  all  gathered  up 
and  carried  along  in  the  unbroken  line  of  this  historic 
church.  After  all,  as  one  has  said,  "It  is  better  to  live 
than  to  write  about  life."  Oh,  dear  church  of  God,  gird 
thyself  afresh.  Renew  your  vows,  oh  ye  who  have  grown 
weary,  or  lost  heart,  or  been  turned  aside.  Pray,  pray, 
every  one  of  you  that  this  day,  this  week,  may  not  go 
by  without  leaving  with  us  signal  blessing  of  the  Al- 
mighty —  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost. 

The  text  of  Dr.  Haydn's  Sunday  evening  sermon 
W2is  Job  8  :7-10: 

Though  the  beginning  was  small,  yet  thy  latter  end  should 
greatly  increase.  For  inquire,  I  pray  thee,  of  the  former 
age,  and  prepare  thyself  to  the  search  of  thy  fathers  (for 
we  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  know  nothing  because  our 
days  upon  earth  are  a  shadow).  Shall  not  they  teach 
thee,  and  tell  thee,  and  utter  words  out  of  their  heart? 

The  theme  was,  "Then  and  now  -  a  Contrast."  This 
historical  address  drew  comparisons  between  the  later 
and  the  earlier  years. 

At  three  o'clock  Sunday  afternoon  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  observed,  the  Reverend 
David  O.  Mears,  D.D.,  pastor  of  Calvary  Presby- 
terian Church;  the  Reverend  Paul  F.  Sutphen,  D.D., 
pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church;  the  Rev- 
erend James  D.  Williamson,  D.D,  pastor  of  Beckwith 
Memorial  Presbyterian  Church,  and  others  partici- 
pating. 

The  Monday  evening  service  was  devoted  to  ad- 
dresses by  various  pastors.   Dean  Williams  of  Trinity 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  297 

Cathedral  spoke  on  "The  Church  and  the  Com- 
munity.'' *'The  Church  and  ReHgious  Progress"  was 
the  theme  of  an  address  by  the  Reverend  L,  L.  Tay- 
lor, pastor  of  Plymouth  Congregational  Church.  The 
Reverend  Levi  Gilbert,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  First 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  spoke  on  '*The  Church 
as  a  Witness  for  the  Truth;"  while  the  subject  of  an 
address  by  the  Reverend  A.  G.  Upham,  pastor  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church,  was  "The  Church  in  her  Fel- 
lowship." 

On  Tuesday  afternoon  various  addresses  were  given 
by  lay  workers:  "The  Founders  of  the  First  Church," 
Elder  Truman  P.  Handy;  "Our  Work  with  the 
Young,"  Mr.  Charles  L.  Kimball;  "Our  Young 
People,"  Mr.  Giles  R.  Anderson,  and  a  paper,  "Per- 
sonal Recollections  of  Bygone  Times,"  by  Mrs.  Mary 
M.  Fairbanks. 

Three  addresses  formed  the  program  for  Tuesday 
evening,  "Our  Spiritual  Leaders,"  the  Honorable 
Richard  C.  Parsons;  "Men  of  Mark  in  the  Church 
and  Society,"  the  Honorable  Samuel  E.  Williamson; 
"The  Cleveland  Sisterhood  of  Presbyterian  Churches," 
the  Reverend  Samuel  P.  Sprecher,  D.D. 

Wednesday  afternoon  of  the  week  of  celebration 
was  devoted  to  "Woman's  Work."  The  following 
papers  were  presented:  "In  the  Inner  Circle  -  the 
Ladies'  Society,"  Mrs.  H.  Kirke  Cushing;  "In  the 
Outer  Circle  -  Missions,"  Mrs.  Edwin  C.  Higbee; 
"Leaves  from  the  Goodrich  Society  Annals,"  Mrs. 
Samuel  Mather. 

The  Reverend  Henry  E.  Elliott  Mott,  D.D.,  pastor 


298  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
and  the  Reverend  Wilton  Merle-Smith,  D.D.,  pastor 
of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York  City, 
delivered  inspiring  addresses  on  Wednesday  evening; 
while  the  evening  of  Thursday  was  given  to  a  "Social 
Reunion,"  limited  to  the  then  present  and  former 
members  of  the  Stone  Church  and  invited  guests. 
After  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  had  been  cele- 
brated a  book  entitled  "Stone  Church  Annals"  was 
published,  containing  the  sermons  and  addresses  de- 
livered upon  the  occasion,  and  in  addition  Dr.  Haydn's 
discourse,  "The  History  of  Presbyterianism  in  Cleve- 
land," delivered  on  January  1,  1896.  Many  of  the 
facts  presented  in  the  addresses  and  sermons  deliv- 
ered and  in  the  papers  read  at  the  seventy-fifth  anni- 
versary celebration  have  naturally  been  incorporated 
in  this  centennial  history. 

In  a  communication  to  the  trustees  on  January  29, 
1896,  Dr.  Haydn  wrote: 

Being  fully  persuaded  that  our  church  needs  for  its  best 
estate  a  service  that  I  am  not  fully  able  to  render;  needs 
also  the  touch  of  a  comparatively  young  man,  and  that  I 
need  a  measure  of  relief  from  the  care  which  the  parish 
imposes,  and  more  freedom  to  go  and  come,  as  the  years 
go  by,  now  I,  Hiram  C.  Haydn,  pastor,  tender  the  half 
of  my  salary,  32,500,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the 
parish  to  pay  a  copastor,  and  pray  your  acceptance  of 
the  same,  and  your  cooperation  in  the  securing  of  such 
a  man  as  from  experience  will  be  able  to  meet  the  needs 
of  the  work,  and  be  likely  to  be  acceptable  in  the  pulpit 
and  out  of  it,  the  same  if  providence  favors  to  take  effect 
June  1,  1896.  In  this  connection  I  wish  to  say  that  my 
son  Howell  graduates  in  June,  and  I  desire  to  be  free  to 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  299 

take  him  to  Europe  for  the  summer  with  your  approval. 
If  the  parish  work  could  go  forward  without  detriment, 
my  wish  would  be  to  be  free  for  a  longer  period,  but  this 
and  all  other  measures  I  desire  to  subordinate  to  the  good 
of  the  parish.  If  it  should  be  thought  more  for  the 
advantage  of  the  parish  to  have  me  go  altogether  and 
a  new  man  come  in,  I  will  acquiesce  in  that.  My  wish  is 
that  through  your  prayers  and  wisdom  the  will  of  provi- 
dence, the  Head  of  the  church,  may  be  made  known.  A 
similar  statement  I  make  tonight  to  the  session. 

The  trustees  acceded  to  Dr.  Haydn's  request  and 
the  elders  invited  the  trustees  to  cooperate  in  the 
securing  of  a  copastor.  Messrs.  G.  E.  Herrick,  Joseph 
Colwell,  and  Samuel  E.  Williamson  were  appointed 
as  trustees  to  act  with  Elders  Francis  C.  Keith,  Edwin 
C.  Higbee,  and  Reuben  F.  Smith  in  securing  a  new 
pastor. 

At  a  joint  meeting  held  by  the  elders  and  trustees 
on  October  24,  1896,  it  was  decided  to  extend  a  call 
to  Professor  Henry  W.  Hulbert,  D.D.,  of  Lane  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  who  accepted  and  was  installed 
associate  pastor  on  February  14,  1897.  President 
Sylvester  F.  Scovel,  D.D.,  of  Wooster  University, 
delivered  the  sermon;  the  Reverend  Paul  F.  Sutphen, 
D.D.,  charged  the  pastor;  the  Reverend  Samuel  P. 
Sprecher,  D.D.,  charged  the  people;  the  Reverend 
Ebenezer  Bushnell,  D.D.,  propounded  the  constitu- 
tional questions,  and  the  Reverend  H.  C.  Haydn, 
D.D.,  offered  the  prayer  of  installation. 

As  the  year  1899  drew  to  its  close  Dr.  Haydn  felt 
impelled,  on  account  of  ill  health,  to  ask  release  from 
pastoral  cares  and  sought  to  have  his  resignation  ac- 


300  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

cepted,  but  the  trustees  voted  a  six  months'  vacation 
with  full  salary,  and  declined  to  accept  the  proffered 
resignation. 

At  this  time  the  steeple  of  the  church  having  been 
removed  after  the  second  fire,  the  east  tower,  or  base 
of  the  former  steeple,  not  having  been  ornamentally 
finished,  Mrs.  Samuel  Mather  proposed  to  complete 
the  work,  and  at  a  cost  of  six  thousand  dollars  the 
towers  were  made  more  beautiful. 

The  six  months'  vacation  so  generously  granted  Dr. 
Haydn  did  not  change  his  longing  for  pastoral  release, 
and  on  July  30,  1900,  the  resignation  was  again 
pressed.  In  a  communication  to  the  official  boards 
he  said: 

I  think  it  must  be  obvious  to  us  all  that  I  am  not  to  be 
counted  upon  to  do  a  man's  full  work,  and  the  church 
cannot  afford  to  look  to  me  as  heretofore  and  be  dis- 
appointed. I  desire  to  put  myself  wholly  in  the  hands 
of  the  session  and  trustees,  and  beg  them  to  do  what  is 
best  for  the  church  as  the  Lord  may  give  them  to  see  it. 
Accept  my  resignation  and  let  me  find  some  place  to  be 
helpful  as  I  am  able.  I  shall  seek  no  other  field;  I  wish 
to  be  accounted  as  one  of  you,  but  in  any  capacity  that 
the  exigencies  of  the  church  may  require  and  my  strength 
allow,  only  let  me  not  be  in  the  way. 

To  this  request  the  session  responded: 

It  is  the  judgment  of  the  session  that  Dr.  Haydn's  resig- 
nation be  not  accepted,  but  instead  that  at  such  time  in 
the  not  distant  future  as  the  session  may  deem  wise,  a 
meeting  of  the  congregation  be  called,  to  which  shall  be 
submitted  the  recommendation  that  the  senior  pastor, 
in  accordance  with  his  earnest  request,  be  retired  from 
active  service  and  released  from  the  obligations  and  re- 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  301 

sponsibilities  of  his  installation  vows,  with  the  title  of 
pastor  emeritus. 

At  the  time  this  action  was  taken  the  Reverend 
Henry  W.  Hulbert,  D.D.,  associate  pastor,  presented 
a  communication  stating  his  unwillingness  to  under- 
take a  copastorate  under  other  conditions  than  those 
under  which  he  came  to  be  associated  with  Dr.Haydn, 
thus  offering  his  resignation  in  order  that  the  con- 
gregation might  be  entirely  free  to  seek  Dr.  Haydn's 
successor.  The  official  boards  expressed  their  appre- 
ciation of  the  four  years'  service  rendered  by  Dr. 
Hulbert  and  the  fine  spirit  in  which  he  sought  to  give 
the  utmost  freedom  to  the  congregation  in  planning 
for  the  future.  The  trustees  voted  an  additional 
twelve  hundred  dollars  to  be  paid  the  associate  pastor 
for  the  extra  service  rendered  by  him  while  the  senior 
pastor  had  been  abroad;  they  also  voted  an  addi- 
tional sum  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  to  be  paid  to 
Dr.  Hulbert  for  whatever  extra  service  he  might  be 
called  upon  to  render  prior  to  June  1,  1901.  Pro- 
fessor Henry  W.  Hulbert's  pastoral  service  closed  on 
April  13,  1901. 

During  the  previous  year  of  1900,  before  the  close 
of  the  associate  pastorates  in  the  Stone  Church,  a 
young  ministerial  helper  secured  directly  from  Auburn 
Theological  Seminary  was  employed  especially  to 
work  in  the  Sunday  School.  This  was  the  Reverend 
Paul  R.  Hickok  who  had  been  recommended  by  Dr. 
Haydn,  after  Mrs.  Samuel  Mather  had  offered  to  pay 
the  expense  of  such  a  helper,  not  only  in  Sunday 
School  service,  but  also  to  assist  the  pastors. 


302  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  Thanksgiving  service  of  1900  was  made  a  union 
event,  Calvary  and  Bolton  Avenue  congregations 
uniting  with  the  mother  church,  not  only  to  observe 
Thanksgiving  day,  but  also  to  commemorate  a  modest 
eightieth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  Stone 
Church.  Dr.  Hulbert  spoke  upon  "The  Eighty 
Years'  History  of  our  Church;  the  Reverend  John  S. 
Zelie  upon  "The  Thanksgiving  Theme;"  while  the 
subject  of  Dr.  John  N.  Freeman's  address  was  "The 
Completion  of  our  Towers." 

So  happy  was  the  selection  of  the  Reverend  Paul 
R.  Hickok  and  so  successful  his  first  year's  service 
that  he  was  employed  for  a  second  year  at  increased 
remuneration,  and  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Haydn, 
who  did  not  become  pastor  emeritus  until  the  installa- 
tion of  his  successor,  the  work  of  the  church  was  con- 
ducted steadily  through  the  transitional  period  which 
led  to  the  settlement  of  the  Reverend  Andrew  B. 
Meldrum,  D.D.,  the  present  pastor  of  the  Stone 
Church. 

The  formal  action  upon  Dr.  Haydn's  request  did 
not  come  until  a  congregational  meeting  was  held  on 
November  29,  1901,  when  a  call  was  also  extended  to 
the  Reverend  Edgar  W.  Work,  D.D.,  of  Dayton, 
Ohio.  This  was  at  first  accepted,  but  afterwards  de- 
clined, thus  causing  delay  in  the  settlement  of  a  pastor 
until  June  1,  1902,  when  Dr.  Meldrum  was  installed. 
During  these  changes  in  leadership  in  the  Stone 
Church  the  official  boards  set  resolutely  to  work  to 
raise  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  Glenville  Presbyterian  Church  debt,  and 


HIRAM  COLLINS  HAYDN  303 

an    additional   sum   of  three   thousand    dollars   for 
Wooster  University. 

The  crowning  service  rendered  by  the  Reverend 
Hiram  Collins  Haydn,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  to  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  cannot  be  described  in  this  chapter.  This 
will  come  in  the  portrayal  of  the  remarkable  educa- 
tional service  rendered  during  his  second  pastorate, 
and  in  the  brief  narrative  of  the  closing  days  of  his 
life,  when  this  tireless  servant  of  Christ  fought  against 
nature,  not  to  be  classified  with  those  who  "only 
stand  and  wait." 


X.    GOOD  MEASURE  PRESSED  DOWN  AND 
RUNNING  OVER 

The  life  and  influence  of  a  Christian  church  can  be 
estimated  neither  by  the  number  of  worshipers 
attending  Sunday  services  nor  by  published  statistics. 
Many  churches  are  as  potent  without  ecclesiastical 
bounds  as  they  are  within  denominational  lines.  Fur- 
thermore, those  Christians  often  denominated  "Blue 
Presbyterians"  are  perhaps  more  liberal  than  any 
body  of  believers  in  the  outgo  of  their  practical  sym- 
pathies. 

If  the  Presbyterian  church  had  confined  to  its  own 
pale  more  of  the  financial  support  freely  contributed 
to  undenominational  agencies,  that  church  would  be 
numerically  greater  than  present  tabulated  figures 
show.  Theologically  conservative  Presbyterians  have 
ever  been  extremely  liberal  in  their  support  of  every 
institution  that  has  sought  the  welfare  of  the  race. 
Fear  of  appearing  in  the  slightest  degree  sectarian 
has  often  prompted  such  liberality  toward  unde- 
nominational institutions  that  the  advancement  of 
Presbyterian  interests  has  suffered  for  lack  of  ade- 
quate support. 

During  the  century  of  its  existence  the  Old  Stone 
Church  of  Cleveland  has  had  a  remarkable  record  for 
an  overflow  of  influence  into  charitable  and  educa- 
tional institutions  of  every  kind,  as  well  as  a  splendid 
history  in  the  work  of  denominational  upbuilding. 


306  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  first  city  directory,  published  in  1837,  two  years 
after  the  settlement  of  the  Reverend  Samuel  C.  Aiken, 
D.D.,  contained  in  addition  to  a  list  of  churches  the 
names  and  oflficers  of  various  associations  then  exist- 
ing for  the  general  welfare  of  Cleveland.  In  the  offi- 
cial lists  of  those  guiding  the  pioneer  associations  the 
preponderance  of  Stone  Church  members  can  readily 
be  discerned.  The  Cleveland  City  Temperance  So- 
ciety on  the  teetotal  plan  was  officered  by  Alex- 
ander Seymour,  Samuel  Cowles,  David  Long,  Dudley 
Baldwin,  Samuel  Williamson,  William  Day,  Buckley 
Stedman,  A.  W.  Walworth,  S.  W.  Crittenden,  and 
John  A.  Foot;  while  probably  a  large  proportion  of 
the  two  hundred  sixty  members  of  this  temperance 
organization  were  Stone  Church  communicants. 

The  Cuyahoga  Anti-Slavery  Society  extended  be- 
yond Cleveland,  but  among  the  officers  were  John  A. 
Foot,  Samuel  Williamson,  S.  L.  Severance,  and  other 
Presbyterians.  To  the  Western  Seaman's  Friend  So- 
ciety such  Stone  Church  members  as  Samuel  Cowles, 
Alexander  Seymour,  Alonzo  Penfield,  the  Reverend 
S.  C.  Aiken,  John  A.  Foot,  Jarvis  F.  Hanks,  and 
Truman  P.  Handy  gave  special  care.  The  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  of  Cleveland  had  for  president  Dr. 
David  Long;  for  secretary  S.  L.  Severance,  and  for 
treasurer  John  A.  Foot. 

In  charge  of  the  Cleveland  Mozart  Society  were 
Truman  P.  Handy,  J.  F.  Hanks,  T.  C.  Severance,  and 
other  Presbyterian  brethren.  Another  musical  organi- 
zation was  the  Cleveland  Harmonic  Society,  com- 
posed   of   seven    amateur    instrumental    musicians, 


GOOD  MEASURE  307 

among  whom  were  T.  C.  Severance  and  J.  F.  Hanks. 
The  musical  influence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Truman  P. 
Handy  continued  many  years  after  their  service  of 
song  in  the  Stone  Church,  for  in  1853  Mr.  Handy  was 
president  of  the  Cleveland  Mendelssohn  Society, 
among  whose  officers  were  also  J.  L.  Seymour,  O.  P. 
Hanks,  and  T.  C.  Severance.  J.  P.  Holbrook,  later  a 
composer  of  note,  was  director  of  the  chorus  of  one 
hundred  twenty  voices,  and  from  time  to  time  ora- 
torios such  as  "Creation"  and  "David"  were  ren- 
dered. 

The  Bethel  Church,  an  undenominational  mission 
enterprise,  was  built  by  liberal  citizens.  The  first 
chaplain  was  the  Reverend  D.  C.  Blood,  a  Presby- 
terian minister,  and  the  most  generous  support  was 
given  by  Stone  Church  members.  The  first  free  day 
school  was  held  in  the  basement  of  the  Bethel  Mis- 
sion by  Miss  Sarah  Van  Tyne  in  1830,  and  was  com- 
posed of  children  who  could  not  afford  to  attend  pri- 
vate schools.  The  city  council  afterwards  voted  funds 
for  its  maintenance  and  in  1837  ninety  male  and 
forty-six  female  pupils  were  in  attendance. 

Another  early  society  was  the  Young  Men's  Liter- 
ary Association,  with  Charles  Whittlesey,  president, 
and  S.  W.  Crittenden,  secretary.  To  the  Cleveland 
News  Room,  free  to  strangers,  and  the  Cleveland 
Reading  Room  Association,  Stone  Church  people 
such  as  John  M.  Sterling  and  S.  W.  Crittenden  gave 
guidance.  The  Cleveland  Maternal  Association, 
founded  in  1835,  was  composed  of  mothers  interested 
in  the  religious  education  of  their  children.    In  1837 


308  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

twenty-six  mothers,  largely  Stone  Church  women, 
were  studiously  concerned  for  the  religious  nurture  of 
ninety  children.  About  the  only  literary  society, 
judged  by  its  name,  in  which  Stone  Church  members 
had  no  interest,  was  the  Shakespeare  Saloon  on 
Water  Street. 

Thus  at  the  beginning  of  church  life  in  Cleveland 
there  was  this  overflow  of  influence  into  every  unde- 
nominational project,  and  this  marked  character- 
istic of  the  Stone  Church  has  never  waned. 

At  the  formation  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  in  1854  Dr.  Aiken,  of  the  Stone  Church, 
presided;  while  the  preponderance  of  Stone  Church 
and  other  Presbyterians  was  marked.  Prominent 
among  the  earliest  supporters  of  the  organization 
were  Solon  L.  Severance,  Joseph  B.  Meriam,  Joseph 
Perkins,  William  M.  Meriam,  J.  E.  Ingersoll,  Chas. 
J.  Dockstader,  S.  H.  Mather,  Dan  P.  Eells,  T.  P. 
Handy,  E.  W.  Sackrider,  and  E.  H.  Merrill.  Elder 
J.  B.  Meriam's  later  gift  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
was  the  first  substantial  contribution  toward 
the  securing  of  a  suitable  building.  The  reorganiza- 
tion after  the  Civil  War  was  almost  a  Presbyterian 
movement.  In  1867  Chas.  E.  Bolton,  a  young  gradu- 
ate of  Amherst  College  who  attended  the  Stone 
Church,  agitated  among  the  young  men  of  that  con- 
gregation the  necessity  of  founding  an  association. 
At  the  first  formal  meeting  held  in  the  Stone  Church 
Elder  George  H.  Ely  presided;  while  John  J.  Wilson 
of  the  same  church  acted  as  secretary.  Of  the  com- 
mittee of  five  appointed  to  draft  a  constitution  four 


GOOD  MEASURE  309 

were  Presbyterians.  At  a  later  meeting  held  in  the 
Stone  Church  eighteen  young  men  signed  the  con- 
stitution, and  of  that  number  at  least  twelve  were 
attendants  of  the  Stone  Church,  namely  Samuel  E. 
Williamson,  Chas.  E.  Bolton,  John  J.  Wilson,  John 
A.  Foote,  Jr.,  J.  H.  Cogswell,  S.  P.  Fenn,  John  W. 
Walton,  George  T.  Williamson,  Charles  L.  Cutter, 
William  Downie,  Edgar  B.  Holden,  and  George  M. 
Spencer.  The  first  four  presidents  were  Presbyterians, 
namely  Dr.  J.  H.  Herrick,  Mr.  H.  S.  Davis,  Elders 
Dan  P.  Eells  and  F.  M.  Backus,  two  of  them 
prominent  in  Stone  Church  activities.  The  above 
facts  emphasize  the  remarkable  support  accorded  the 
Cleveland  Young  Men's  Association  by  Presbyterians 
throughout  the  history  of  the  association.  Elder  S.  P. 
Fenn,  of  the  Stone  Church,  has  been  officially  con- 
nected with  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
work  for  fifty-three  years.  From  1892  to  1917,  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  he  was  president  of  the  board 
of  trustees,  and  since  1917  he  has  been  honorary 
president. 

At  the  formation  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association  Miss  Sarah  Fitch  became  president.  It 
was  an  outgrowth  of  the  Walnut  Street  Home.  The 
Protestant  Orphan  Asylum,  founded  in  1852,  had 
among  its  promoters  Mrs.  Sherlock  J.  Andrews,  Elisha 
Taylor,  Geo.  A.  Benedict,  and  Buckley  Stedman. 
The  Children's  Aid  Society,  organized  in  1853- 
1854,  depended  upon  Truman  P.  Handy  and  George 
Mygatt  for  leadership  and  for  many  years  prior  to 


310  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

his  death  Elder  Samuel  A.  Raymond  of  the  Stone 
Church  was  secretary. 

The  great  Lakeside  Hospital,  organized  in  the  par- 
lors of  the  Stone  Church  during  the  Civil  War  as  a 
Home  for  the  Friendless,  was  designed  especially  for 
the  care  of  southern  refugees.  First  in  a  private 
dwelling  leased  on  Lake  Street  opposite  the  present 
Lakeside  Hospital  temporary  help  was  given  the 
sick  and  needy,  mainly  from  the  South.  In  1866  the 
work,  incorporated  as  the  Cleveland  City  Hospital, 
was  moved  toWillson  Avenue  [East  Fifty-fifth  Street], 
near  Davenport  Street,  and  then  brought  back  in 
1875  to  the  Marine  Hospital,  an  institution  founded 
in  the  heart  of  the  city  by  the  Federal  Government 
for  the  care  of  seamen.  The  present  Lakeside  Hos- 
pital buildings  were  dedicated  in  1898,  but  plans  are 
being  perfected  for  a  second  removal  eastward  to  the 
enlarged  campus  of  Western  Reserve  University. 
Among  the  foremost  contributors  to  the  construction 
of  the  building  existing  on  Lake  Avenue  were  Charles 
W.  Harkness,  Mrs.  Amasa  Stone,  Mrs.  James  F. 
Clark,  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Severance,  Louis  H.  Severance, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  S.  Tyler,  J.  L.  Woods,  and  Mrs. 
Samuel  Mather.  Such  a  list  of  names  emphasizes  the 
generous  spirit  of  Cleveland  Presbyterians. 

When  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union 
was  incorporated  in  1880  its  first  president  was  Mrs. 
M.  E.  Rawson,  who  for  so  many  years  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Stone  Church  choir,  and  who  died  as  a 
member  of  the  church  on  June  24,  1920.  The  Float- 
ing Bethel,  a  unique  mission  to  the  lake  seamen,  was 


GOOD  MEASURE  311 

organized  by  Chaplain  J.  D.  Jones,  whose  youth  was 
in  the  Stone  Church  and  who  is  a  member  of  Cleve- 
land Presbytery.  His  work  has  been  liberally  sus- 
tained by  members  of  Presbyterian  churches. 

The  Bethel  Associated  Charities,  formed  in  1884, 
was  superintended  many  years  by  Elder  Henry  N. 
Raymond,  of  the  Stone  Church. 

In  all  the  later  movements  of  Christian  associa- 
tions, friendly  inns,  kindergartens,  nurseries,  hospi- 
tals, care  of  the  needy  and  rescue  work,  boys'  clubs, 
and  movements  too  numerous  to  be  listed,  money 
from  Presbyterian  sources  has  been  freely  given,  and 
many  times  sister  churches  in  their  work  of  extension 
have  gleaned  the  Presbyterian  field.  The  Home  for 
Aged  Women  and  the  Home  and  Chapel  of  the  Chil- 
dren's Aid  Society,  the  Lend-a-Hand  Mission  build- 
ing, and  two  day  nurseries  were  exclusively  the  gifts 
of  Presbyterians  and  their  affiliations.  The  Eleanor 
B.  Rainey  Memorial  Institute  bears  the  honored 
name  of  one  long  a  member  of  the  Stone  Church.  The 
Goodrich  House,  opened  in  1897,  was  primarily  de- 
signed to  add  to  the  Stone  Church  facilities  for  in- 
stitutional work.  Mrs.  Samuel  Mather  generously 
established  this  institution  and  named  it  after  the 
pastor  of  her  earlier  years,  the  Reverend  William  H. 
Goodrich,  D.D.  It  seemed  better,  however,  for  the 
Goodrich  House  to  undertake,  apart  from  the  Stone 
Church,  the  settlement  work  then  becoming  popular 
in  large  cities.  To  the  Goodrich  House  was  moved 
several  special  features  of  the  work  among  the  young, 
such  as  the  Boys'  Club,  the  Church  League,  the  Sun- 


312  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

day  Service  Club,  the  Mothers'  Meeting  and  the 
Students'  Guild,  all  previously  existing  in  the  Stone 
Church,  which  also  fostered  an  institution  that  has 
in  later  years  greatly  prospered,  namely  the  Vacation 
Schools.  This  summer  work,  consisting  of  sewing 
classes,  out-of-door  excursions,  summer  work,  and 
summer  play  for  children,  started  in  the  Stone  Church 
under  the  inspiration  of  the  late  Mr.  E.  W.  Haines, 
son-in-law  of  Dr.  Haydn.  This  line  of  juvenile  help 
in  which  Mrs.  E.  W.  Haines  was  also  very  helpful, 
was  turned  in  1900  to  the  care  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, and  out  of  it  has  grown  the  Summer  Vacation 
School  System.  The  kindergarten,  sewing  classes, 
weaving,  fancy  work,  art  and  clay  work,  manual 
training,  the  playground  system,  and  work  in  home 
gardening,  are  manifest  and  important  results  of  the 
work  in  which  the  Stone  Church  took  prominent 
initiative. 

All  Presbyterian  overflow  in  Cleveland  has  not 
come  from  the  Stone  Church,  but  many  givers  in 
other  Presbyterian  churches  received  early  inspira- 
tion in  the  parent  congregation,  or  they  were  de- 
scendants of  .pioneer  stock  that  worshiped  in  "The 
Mother  of  us  all."  The  names  of  Leonard  Case, 
Amasa  Stone,  J.  L.  Woods,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  F. 
Clark,  George  Mygatt,  Mrs.  Samuel  Mather,  Mrs. 
John  Hay,  Mrs.  S.  V.  Harkness,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  T. 
Backus,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  S.  Tyler,  and  many  others 
whose  names  could  be  given,  emphasize  the  overflow 
power  of  the  Stone  Church  toward  every  local  phi- 
lanthropy. 


GOOD  MEASURE  313 

Besides  the  Stone  Church  givers  there  were  H.  B. 
Hurlbut,  patron  of  art,  hospitals  and  education; 
E.  I.  Baldwin,  Truman  P.  Handy,  Dan  P.  Eells, 
T.  D.  Crocker,  all  at  least  in  the  later  years  of  life 
of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church;  Joseph  Perkins, 
H.  R.  Hatch  (later  in  Calvary  Church),  and  Miss 
Anne  Walworth,  of  the  Euclid  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church;  Mrs.  J.  Livingstone  Taylor,  of  the  East 
Cleveland  Presbyterian  Church,  and  most  prominent 
of  all,  the  Severance  family,  whose  benefactions  have 
not  ceased  to  flow  through  five  generations  of  mem- 
bers connected  with  the  First,  Second,  Woodland 
Avenue,  and  Calvary  Presbyterian  Churches. 

At  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  Dr.  Haydn  esti- 
mated that  during  the  previous  seventeen  years  al- 
most three  million  dollars  had  been  given  by  Stone 
Church  attendants  for  education;  that  Oberlin  Col- 
lege had  received  one  hundred  fifty  thousand  dollars 
from  Cleveland  Presbyterians;  while  Lane  and  West- 
ern Theological  Seminaries,  Berea  College,  Hampton 
Institute  and  many  southern  institutions  had  been 
generously  remembered.  Since  that  summary  of  1895 
was  made,  what  a  stream  of  benefactions  has  flowed 
from  Cleveland  Presbyterians  toward  Western  Re- 
serve University,  the  College  of  Wooster,  Oberlin 
College,  and  other  institutions  of  higher  learning. 
Only  a  Dr.  Haydn  could  give  a  correct  estimate  of 
the  sum  total  of  the  gifts. 

Although  not  a  denominational  institution  West- 
ern Reserve  University,  embracing  Adelbert  College, 
owes  much  for  its  flourishing  existence  to  the  Presby- 


314  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

terian  givers  of  Cleveland;  while  the  part  that  the  pas- 
tors of  the  Stone  Church  have  taken  in  the  evolution 
of  this  educational  force  presents  an  inspiring  story. 

The  home  missionaries  who  established  the  pioneer 
churches  and  academies  dreamed  very  early  of  higher 
educational  facilities  for  northern  Ohio.  Western  Re- 
serve College,  for  over  fifty  years  located  at  Hudson, 
Ohio,  had  its  origin  in  the  Erie  Literary  Society, 
chartered  in  1803  and  started  at  Burton,  Ohio,  at  a 
time  when  there  were  only  fifteen  hundred  settlers 
on  the  Western  Reserve. 

About  1822  the  Grand  River  and  Portage  Presby- 
teries were  **moved  to  aid  in  the  education  of  indigent 
and  pious  young  men  for  the  ministry."  Two  years 
later  Huron  Presbytery  joined  in  the  educational 
project,  but  Burton  having  become  known  as  an  un- 
healthy place  a  more  suitable  location  was  sought. 
Hudson,  Ohio,  considered  not  only  more  healthy,  but 
also  more  central  in  its  relation  to  the  three  "Plan  of 
Union  Presbyteries,"  was  selected  after  Mr.  David 
Hudson  had  donated  a  campus  of  one  hundred  sixty 
acres.  This  choice  was  made  in  1825  and  in  the 
following  year  a  college  charter  was  obtained.  This 
was  amended  in  1844  in  order  to  include  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Medical  College  in  Cleveland.  Be- 
sides the  gift  of  the  campus  seven  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars  had  been  subscribed.  The  Reverend 
Charles  Backus  Storrs  was  elected  president,  also 
professor  of  sacred  theology,  showing  the  early  at- 
tempt to  correlate  theological  studies  with  the  college 


GOOD  MEASURE  315 

curriculum  without  a  separate  department.  The  first 
building,  Middle  College,  was  completed  in  1827. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  relation  sustained 
by  one  of  the  early  supplies  of  the  Stone  Church  to 
the  founding  of  Western  Reserve  College.  The  Rev- 
erend Stephen  I.  Bradstreet,  who  served  the  Stone 
Church  almost  seven  years,  not  only  delivered  the 
formal  address  as  a  trustee  of  Western  Reserve  Col- 
lege, at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  first 
building,  but  he  also  spent  much  time  raising  early 
endowment  funds. 

From  that  time  to  later  years  a  marked  relation  of 
influence  has  been  sustained  by  the  succession  of 
Stone  Church  pastors,  in  behalf  of  Western  Reserve 
College,  which  has  now  become  a  great  university. 

The  first  president  of  Western  Reserve  College  was 
a  Dartmouth  graduate,  and  notwithstanding  the  pur- 
pose of  the  founders  to  create  a  "Yale  of  the  West," 
Dartmouth  at  a  later  period  had  a  greater  represen- 
tation on  the  Western  Reserve  College  faculty  than 
had  Yale  College.  President  Storrs  lived  only  three 
years  after  the  inauguration  of  his  college  presidency, 
and  he  was  followed  in  succession  by  three  Yale 
graduates,  Presidents  George  E.  Pierce,  Henry  L. 
Hitchcock,  and  Carroll  Cutler,  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters, whose  combined  service  in  the  college  extended 
over  fifty-two  years.  A  College  Church  organized 
July  13,  1831,  continued  its  connection  with  Cleve- 
land Presbytery  until  the  removal  of  the  institution 
to  Cleveland,  when  the  church  became  extinct.  For 
a  number  of  years  prior  to  the  removal,  however,  the 


316  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

College  Church  had  worshiped  with  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  of  Hudson,  holding  only  stated  communion 
seasons  in  the  college  chapel. 

The  original  purpose  of  all  Presbyterians  and  Con- 
gregationalists  under  the  Plan  of  Union  was  that  of 
uniting  the  religious  forces  of  the  Western  Reserve 
in  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  one  college 
and  one  theological  seminary.  Such  was  the  purpose 
when  the  Erie  Literary  Society  was  formed,  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  phrase,  **to  preserve  a  unity  of  design 
and  harmony  of  feeling."  In  1828  a  movement  arose 
to  start  a  theological  seminary  at  Austinburgh,  but 
the  promoters  were  soon  persuaded  to  abandon  their 
purpose,  in  order  *'both  to  save  time  and  money  and 
to  preserve  the  unity  of  design  and  harmony  of  feel- 
mg. 

The  same  forces,  however,  that  disrupted  the  "Plan 
of  Union"  churches  and  formed  separate  Congrega- 
tional and  Presbyterian  denominations  on  the  Re- 
serve, wrought  like  division  in  the  case  of  higher  edu- 
cation. On  the  Western  Reserve  there  are  today 
these  two  strong  denominations  working  in  harmony, 
and  there  are  also  two  great  educational  institutions. 
Oberlin  College  has  become  a  noted  school  of  higher 
learning,  famed  for  its  pioneer  coeducational  policy, 
and  perhaps  through  recent  legacies  the  richest  college 
(not  university)  in  the  United  States.  It  is  no  longer 
a  denominational  institution,  although  the  theological 
department  is  generally  known  as  holding  connection 
with  the  Congregational  Church. 

Western  Reserve  College  on  the  other  hand  has 


GOOD  MEASURE  317 

become  Adelbert  College,  the  nucleus  of  Western  Re- 
serve University,  and  working  in  practical  coopera- 
tion with  Case  School  of  Applied  Science  has  made 
Cleveland  an  important  educational  center. 

Very  natural  was  it  then,  after  there  had  been  a 
division  of  educational  interests  on  the  Western  Re- 
serve, for  the  Reverend  Samuel  C.  Aiken,  D.D.,  the 
first  installed  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church,  to  give 
earnest  support  and  counsel  to  Western  Reserve  Col- 
lege. For  eighteen  years  he  served  as  a  trustee,  thus 
continuing  the  interest  of  the  Reverend  Stephen  I. 
Bradstreet.  The  Reverend  William  H.  Goodrich, 
D.D.,  served  five  years  as  a  trustee,  and  throughout 
his  pastorate  he  was  the  warm  personal  friend  of 
President  Henry  L.  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  and  gave  to 
the  college  not  only  generous  counsel,  but  also  finan- 
cial assistance. 

The  longest  service  rendered  Western  Reserve 
College  and  University  by  a  Stone  Church  pastor  was 
that  of  Dr.  Haydn.  Elected  a  trustee  while  settled 
at  Painesville,  Ohio,  he  served  continuously,  with  the 
exception  of  the  four  years'  connection  with  the 
American  Board,  until  the  time  of  his  death,  an 
official  relation  of  forty-one  years. 

The  influence  of  Dr.  Haydn  in  having  secured  the 
removal  of  Western  Reserve  College  to  Cleveland  has 
been  portrayed.  An  important  task,  however,  re- 
mained for  him  to  perform  before  the  change  of  loca- 
tion could  be  pronounced  a  success  and  Adelbert 
College  made  the  nucleus  of  Western  Reserve  Uni- 
versity.  Only  three  years  of  his  second  pastorate  had 


318  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

passed  when  the  Stone  Church  pastor,  already  a  busy- 
leader  in  the  remarkable  era  of  Presbyterian  church 
extension  in  "Greater  Cleveland,"  was  literally  drafted 
into  the  presidency  of  Western  Reserve  University. 

A  marked  decrease  of  male  students  followed  the 
removal  of  the  college  to  Cleveland;  while  the  number 
of  woman  students  in  attendance  rapidly  increased. 
Western  Reserve  College  had  always  been  consid- 
ered an  institution  for  men,  although  a  few  young 
ladies  residing  in  or  near  Hudson  had  been  gradu- 
ated. As  early  as  1884  the  faculty  of  Adelbert 
College  advocated  the  formation  of  a  separate  school 
for  women,  either  in  the  form  of  an  annex  or  of  a  co- 
ordinate institution.  Almost  all  colleges  in  Ohio  had 
been,  like  Oberlin,  coeducational  from  their  begin- 
ning; while  very  few  colleges  for  men  had  undergone 
the  experiment  of  becoming  coeducational. 

After  a  two  years'  search  for  a  successor  to  Presi- 
dent Carroll  Cutler,  who  had  advocated  coeducation, 
the  trustees  turned  to  one  of  their  number,  as  once 
before  they  had  done  in  1872,  to  solve  the  difficulties. 

At  a  joint  meeting  of  the  Stone  Church  trustees 
and  elders  held  on  December  2,  1887,  the  senior  pas- 
tor read  a  paper  containing  these  excerpts: 

It  has  come  to  pass  that  for  the  second  time  the  attention 
of  your  pastor  has  been  called  to  the  merits  of  the  colleges 
planted  in  our  city,  and  for  the  second  time  he  has  been 
unanimously  elected  president.  I  cannot  suppose  that 
our  citizens  mean  to  be  indifferent  to  the  success  of  the 
institutions  of  learning  planted  amongst  us.  No  one  for 
a  moment  will  assent  to  the  conclusion  that  Adelbert 
College  is  now  fulfilling  its  mission.     Everybody  must 


GOOD  MEASURE  319 

hope  to  see  this  and  the  sister  institution  growing  in  favor 
and  into  larger  usefulness,  until  they  are  the  pride  of  our 
city.  Is  there  need  of  reminding  you  that  the  men,  one 
of  whom  founded  and  endowed  Case  School,  and  the 
other  of  whom  largely  endowed  the  college  and  was  the 
means  of  its  removal  to  our  city,  were  both  identified 
with  this  congregation,  the  latter  a  trustee  interested  in 
everything  that  would  promote  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  this  church?  In  the  removal  of  this  college  the 
writer  of  this  communication  was  interested  and  some- 
what influential  as  a  trustee.  These  facts  may  reasonably 
be  supposed  to  have  some  weight  with  our  people  in  the 
present  emergency.  I  find  myself  unable  to  dismiss  this 
matter,  therefore,  without  serious  consideration.  Allow 
me  to  define  my  own  view.  First,  I  have  no  idea  of 
abandoning  my  pastorate  for  college  cares.  Secondly, 
I  have  no  idea  of  putting  our  church  second  in  my 
thought,  much  less  permanently  leaving  it,  or  seeing  its 
interests  suffer.  Thirdly,  I  have  no  thought  of  resigning 
my  pulpit  even  temporarily.  But  fourthly,  I  have 
thought,  I  still  think,  if  some  arrangement  can  be  made 
by  which  I  can  temporarily  assume  the  leadership  of 
the  college  in  the  emergency,  in  the  hope  and  expecta- 
tion of  preparing  the  way  for  a  man  who  will  give  his 
whole  time  to  the  work  of  education,  we  ought  to  be 
willing  to  accede  to  it.  I  shall  in  such  case  be  found  in 
my  pulpit  and  at  the  weekly  devotional  meetings.  I  shall 
need  to  be  relieved  of  a  considerable  portion  of  parish 
and  outside  work.  This  can  be  met  by  a  suitable  assistant 
to  both  pastors,  giving  all  time  to  parish  work,  and 
without  additional  expense  to  the  congregation.  The  step 
proposed  is  not  without  precedent.  Drs.  Crosby  and 
Hall  have  both  held  such  relation  to  the  University  of 
the  City  of  New  York,  bridging  over  an  interim  and 
using  their  influence  until  now  a  capable  head  has  been 
found  in  Chancellor  McCracken.    Taking  a  broad  view 


320  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

it  seems  to  me  that  I  ought  to  be  free  for  a  year  to  try 
the  experiment,  as  I  think  and  hope,  without  detriment 
to  the  interests  of  this  church  to  which  I  am  devoted, 
without  quaHfication  or  reserve  beyond  any  other  in- 
terest on  earth,  and  I  should  hope  and  pray,  with  some 
positive  advantage  to  the  college  and  cause  of  higher 
education  in  our  city.  I  shall  try  as  gracefully  as  I  can 
to  accept  an  adverse  decision,  if  this  shall  be  your  ver- 
dict, much  as  I  hope  it  may  be  otherwise.  At  all  events 
we  will  hold  together  in  harmony  with  all  our  precedents. 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance  to  the  trustees  of  the 
college  Dr.  Haydn  wrote: 

I  formally  accept  the  position  whose  duties  I  have  already 
entered  upon,  with  the  full  understanding  that  I  am  at 
liberty  to  retire  as  soon  as  the  circumstances  of  the  college 
permit,  or  the  necessities  of  my  work  as  pastor  of  the 
First  Church  require. 

The  Stone  Church  officials  unanimously  and  cor- 
dially concurred  in  Dr.  Haydn's  request,  and  the  Rev- 
erend Giles  H.  Dunning  was  employed  to  cooperate 
with  the  pastors  in  caring  for  the  Stone  Church. 
Serious  problems  awaited  the  new  president  of  West- 
ern Reserve  University,  who  doubtless  hoped  that 
within  a  year  or  two  at  the  most  the  way  could  be 
cleared  for  the  settlement  of  a  more  permanent 
college  head. 

There  was  not  only  the  pressing  necessity  of  de- 
ciding between  the  policy  of  coeducation  and  that 
of  coordinate  education  of  the  sexes,  but  likewise  an 
imperative  need  of  creating  a  university  spirit.  Al- 
though the  medical  department  had  existed  in  Cleve- 
land since  1841,  its  connection  with  the  college  at 


GOOD  MEASURE  321 

Hudson  had  been  very  nominal,  having  been  man- 
aged largely  by  the  physicians  who  had  freely  given 
their  teaching  services.  These  medical  men  resented 
the  authority  of  any  university  president.  There 
arose  also  the  problem  of  creating  new  departments 
such  as  those  of  music  and  art.  Two  academies  were 
sustained,  one  at  Hudson  and  the  other  at  Green 
Springs,  but  neither  contributed  students  in  any  pro- 
portion to  the  expense  of  maintenance. 

The  citizens  of  Cleveland  as  yet  had  no  vital  sense 
of  responsibility  either  for  Case  School  or  Adelbert 
College,  viewing  them  as  the  projects  of  two  rich  men 
whose  estates  would  foster  the  institutions  thus 
founded.  It  had  occurred  to  no  one  that  Adelbert 
College  could  make  good  use  of  a  few  thousand,  or 
hundreds  of  dollars  from  more  humble  sources. 
The  East  End,  in  which  the  university  was  located, 
without  giving  any  substantial  assistance,  neverthe- 
less claimed  the  colleges  as  a  social  asset,  and  that 
section  of  the  city  became  extremely  critical  toward 
any  who  would  depart  from  the  coeducational  policy. 

The  first  effort  put  forth  by  President  Haydn  was 
the  construction  of  a  gymnasium,  in  size  better  than 
nothing,  but  as  he  well  knew  wholly  inadequate  to 
meet  the  permanent  needs  of  an  enlarged  student 
body.  The  small  brick  gymnasium,  however,  has 
become  the  nucleus  of  the  spacious  armory-type  ath- 
letic building  constructed  during  the  recent  World 
War. 

Then  came  the  well-defined  educational  policy  in 
the  decision  to  found  a  college  for  women,  coordi- 


322  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

nated  with  Adelbert  College  for  men.  The  newspaper 
files  of  1888-1889  still  echo  the  invective  against  the 
president  and  trustees,  who  avoided  any  discussion  of 
the  merits  or  demerits  of  coeducation.  In  view  of 
the  number  of  coeducational  colleges  in  Ohio,  the 
Adelbert  officials  felt  that  there  was  room  for  a 
woman's  college,  especially  when  young  women  of 
Ohio  were  seeking  entrance  to  Vassar,  Wellesley, 
Smith,  and  other  eastern  colleges  for  women,  only 
to  be  denied  admission  for  lack  of  accommodation. 

This  was  the  general  position  of  President  Haydn 
and  of  the  trustees  and  faculty  of  Adelbert  College. 
Through  the  fires  of  bitter  criticism,  however,  the 
experiment  passed,  and  the  climax  of  public  scorn 
was  attained  when  the  old  Ford  homestead  on  Euclid 
Avenue,  at  the  corner  of  Adelbert  Road,  was  opened 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  eleven  regular  and 
twenty-seven  special  students  who  assembled  there 
in  September  of  1888.  It  did  appear  like  a  most  in- 
significant annex  to  Adelbert's  more  stately  equip- 
ment, but  the  founders  discerned  by  faith  better  days 
than  those  in  the  old  Ford  homestead.  They  dreamed 
of  a  material  as  well  as  educational  upbuilding,  and 
their  faith  was  not  mocked  by  failure  and  disappoint- 
ment. 

The  faculty  of  Adelbert  College  unanimously 
pledged  themselves  without  remuneration  to  dupli- 
cate for  three  years  in  the  new  college  their  Adelbert 
instruction,  and  that  was  really  the  first  great  gift 
to  the  incipient  College  for  Women.  The  beginning 
was  somewhat  like  that  of  Case  School  of  Applied 


GOOD  MEASURE  323 

Science  in  the  old  Leonard  Case  homestead,  only  the 
latter  project  had  been  fortified  with  weahh  that 
guaranteed  speedy  development,  but  in  case  of  the 
College  for  Women,  aside  from  the  pledge  of  the 
faculty  members  to  give  free  instruction,  the  only 
certain  financial  support  was  eight  thousand  dollars, 
annually  pledged  by  Stone  Church  adherents  for 
three  years,  five  thousand  from  the  Honorable  John 
Hay  and  three  thousand  from  Mrs.  Amasa  Stone. 

Aside  from  these  assets  all  else  was  a  matter  of  faith, 
but  faith's  venture  was  speedily  rewarded.  Mrs. 
James  F.  Clark,  of  the  Stone  Church,  gave  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  half  for  endowment  and  half 
for  the  construction  of  Clark  Hall.  Then  came  Guil- 
ford House,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Samuel  Mather  of  the 
Stone  Church,  who  named  the  structure  in  honor  of 
a  pioneer  woman  teacher  of  Cleveland.  Clark  Hall 
was  designed  for  recitations  and  Guilford  House  for 
dormitory  purposes.  On  Easter  Day  of  1902  the 
beautiful  Florence  Harkness  Memorial  Chapel  was 
dedicated,  to  which  were  transferred  the  daily  worship, 
the  Bible  teaching  and  Biblical  library  of  the  college. 
The  chapel  was  the  gift  of  Mrs.  S.  V.  Harkness  of 
the  Stone  Church,  and  Elder  Louis  H.  Severance,  of 
the  Woodland  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  and  in 
addition  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  given  as  en- 
dowment for  the  care  of  the  chapel.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  gift  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  found 
the  Chair  of  Biblical  Literature,  occupied  first  by 
President  Haydn  and  then  by  his  son.  Professor 
Howell  M.  Haydn.    The  same  year,  1902,  witnessed 


324  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  dedication  of  Haydn  Hall,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Samuel 
Mather  and  named  in  honor  of  the  pastor  of  her 
more  mature  years.  About  the  same  time  Mrs. 
Mather  endowed  in  Adelbert  College  the  Haydn 
Chair  of  History,  in  honor  of  Dr.  Haydn.  As  one 
passes  through  the  Mary  Chisholm  Painter  Memo- 
rial Gateway  bearing  the  honored  name  of  a  Stone 
Church  family,  he  not  only  approaches  the  above- 
named  structures  on  the  campus  of  the  College  for 
Women,  but  also  a  gymnasium,  the  Flora  Mather 
House  and  the  Mather  Memorial  Building.  The 
campus  and  buildings  are  worth  seven  hundred 
ninety-three  thousand  dollars.  There  is  equipment 
valued  at  over  twenty-five  thousand  dollars;  while  the 
endowment  funds  have  risen  to  six  hundred  twenty- 
four  thousand  dollars.  This  centennial  year  six  hun- 
dred sixty  young  women  are  in  attendance,  exceeding 
slightly  the  number  of  young  men  at  Adelbert  Col- 
lege. 

President  Haydn  also  waged  a  contest  for  the  sake 
of  a  university  spirit  in  the  case  of  the  medical  de- 
partment. One  faculty  member  predicted  that  "Dr. 
Haydn  had  set  back  medical  education  a  quarter 
of  a  century."  Enlarged  benefactions  turned  toward 
the  medical  department,  beginning  with  the  legacy 
of  J.  L.  Woods,  of  the  Stone  Church.  Voluntary  in- 
struction gave  way  to  endowed  chairs;  only  college 
graduates  were  admitted  to  a  four-year  course,  and 
in  time  this  department  of  the  university  reached 
such  a  degree  of  excellence  that  it  was  placed  by  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation  very  near  the  head  of  ac- 


GOOD  MEASURE  325 

credited  schools  for  medicine.  The  real  estate  and 
equipment  are  valued  at  four  hundred  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars;  while  the  endowment  is  one  million, 
seven  hundred  eighty-four  thousand  dollars.  A  goodly 
portion  of  the  endowment  has  come  from  Mr.  H.  M. 
Hanna  and  others  not  affiliated  with  Presbyterian 
churches,  but  along  with  the  generosity  of  the  mem- 
bers of  that  denomination  is  to  be  listed  the  benevo- 
lence of  those  in  connection  with  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  of  which  Mr.  Samuel  Mather,  a  most 
generous  patron  of  Western  Reserve  University,  is 
a  prominent  communicant. 

One  of  the  earliest  additions  to  Adelbert  College, 
during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Haydn,  was  that  of 
Eldred  Hall,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
building.  Ten  thousand  dollars  of  the  sixteen  thou- 
sand spent  in  the  construction  represented  the  life 
savings  of  the  Reverend  and  Mrs.  Henry  B.  Eldred, 
the  husband  a  member  of  Cleveland  Presbytery 
whose  pastorates  had  all  been  country  charges. 

While  located  at  Hudson,  Ohio,  the  comparatively 
small  endowment  of  Western  Reserve  College  came 
in  its  largest  sums  from  such  Cleveland  Presbyterians 
as  Truman  P.  Handy,  H.  B.  Hurlbut,  Joseph  Perkins, 
Nathan  Perry,  P.  M.  Weddell,  T.  D.  Crocker,  Selah 
Chamberlain,  S.  B.  Chittenden,  the  Reverend  W.  H. 
Goodrich,  Harmon  Kingsbury,  Elisha  Taylor,  H. 
Harvey,  William  Williams,  Douglas  Perkins,  Geo.  W. 
Gardner,  G.  H.  Burt,  Henry  M.  Flagler,  and  other 
names  familiar  in  earlier  years.  Three  of  the  en- 
dowed chairs  were  the  Handy  professorship  of  phi- 


326  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

losophy,  the  Hurlbut  professorship  of  chemistry,  and 
the  Perkins  professorship  of  physics  and  astronomy. 
These  now  exist  at  Adelbert  College  and  in  addition 
the  Selah  Chamberlain  professorship  of  sociology,  the 
Haydn  professorship  of  history,  the  Amasa  Stone 
fund,  the  Julia  Gleason  Stone  fund,  the  McBride 
lecture  course  fund,  the  Harriet  Pelton  Perkins  schol- 
arship, the  George  Mygatt  fund,  the  Solon  L.  Sever- 
ance fund,  the  Hatch  Library,  the  Franklin  T.  Backus 
Law  School  and  fund,  the  Amasa  Stone  Memorial 
Chapel,  and  the  Department  of  Religious  Education 
on  the  Louis  H.  Severance  Foundation. 

At  the  College  for  Women  in  addition  to  what  has 
already  been  enumerated  are  the  Woods  professor- 
ship of  Latin,  the  Haydn  scholarship  fund,  the  H.  K. 
Cushing  fund,  the  Julia  Gleason  fund  and  the  Mary 
Chisholm  fund. 

These  names  show  the  great  preponderance  of 
Presbyterian  supporters  of  Western  Reserve  College 
of  Hudson,  Ohio,  and  of  the  modern  university  in 
Cleveland,  and  especially  those  connected  with  the 
Stone  Church. 

In  the  summer  of  1890  the  Reverend  Charles  Frank- 
lin Thwing,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  was  called  from  his  pas- 
torate in  Minneapolis  to  the  presidency  of  Western 
Reserve  University.  The  way  for  his  inauguration 
had  been  effectively  prepared  by  the  comparatively 
brief  administration  of  President  Hiram  Collins 
Haydn,  and  a  most  inviting  educational  field  had 
been  made  ready  for  fruitful  seed-sowing.  With  the 
swift  growth  of  Cleveland  in  population  and  wealth 


GOOD  MEASURE  327 

Western  Reserve  University  has  experienced  a  cor- 
responding development.  This  year's  commence- 
ment brought  to  a  close  President  Thwing's  thirtieth 
year  of  administrative  service,  and  he  is  taking  a 
year's  leave  of  absence  richly  deserved  in  view  of  what 
he  had  been  permitted  to  rear  upon  foundations  laid 
by  faithful  predecessors.  Great  as  the  educational 
structure  has  become,  the  pressing  needs  of  Western 
Reserve  University  seem  greater  than  ever,  for  the 
very  reason  that  there  is  faith  to  believe  that  the 
sources  of  replenishment,  both  in  friends  and  finan- 
cial resources,  will  prove  in  time  to  be  correspondingly 
ample. 

After  retirement  from  his  active  pastorate  Dr. 
Haydn  continued  to  serve  in  his  professorship  of 
Biblical  literature  at  the  College  for  Women.  In  1899 
his  son.  Professor  Howell  M.  Haydn,  began  to  assist 
the  father;  was  made  associate  professor  in  1907;  and 
in  1910  succeeded  to  the  full  professorship. 

In  his  tenth  anniversary  sermon  delivered  June  10, 
1894,  Dr.  Haydn  thus  referred  to  his  educational  serv- 
ice to  Western  Reserve  University: 

No  adequate  survey  of  these  ten  years  can  fairly  leave 
out  of  account  the  three  years  of  the  partial  surrender 
of  the  senior  pastor's  time  at  the  call  of  the  college  and 
the  university.  Whatever  it  may  have  meant  to  the 
church,  be  it  much  or  little,  it  certainly  meant  a  great 
deal  to  him.  It  was  a  part  of  that  unselfish  policy  which 
has  characterized  this  church  during  the  last  fourteen 
years,  in  the  face  of  the  outsetting  tide  of  population 
and  the  demands  of  institutions  planted  and  nurtured 
by  our  own    people,   for  the  good   of  the  city   and   the 


328  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

world.  And  for  one,  face  to  face  with  all  the  Inroads 
of  death  and  removal,  and  all  the  outlay  of  time  and 
money  for  the  public  weal,  I  cannot  see  what  better 
policy  we  could  have  pursued.  This  is  not  a  time  to  enter 
into  the  history  of  my  three  years  with  the  college  as 
president,  A  novice  in  such  matters,  I  simply,  honestly 
and  heartily  did  the  work  that  had  to  be  done  as  well 
as  I  could.  It  brought  with  it  much  defamation,  as  such 
necessary  but  unwelcome  tasks  always  do.  The  adminis- 
tration of  such  matters,  however  wisely  and  honestly 
pursued,  is  liable  to  be  misunderstood,  and  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  can  not  be  fully  explained  at  the  time 
to  an  interested  public;  and  a  man  can  only  wait  in  pa- 
tience the  testing  of  his  work  and  his  vindication,  if 
he  deserves  to  be  vindicated.  I  have  wrought  and  I  am 
willing  to  wait.  From  1880  onward  the  impress  of  this 
church  and  congregation  has  been  inefFaceably  put  upon 
the  university  movement  which  here  originated,  made 
possible  by  the  removal  and  endowment  of  Adelbert 
College,  the  founding  of  the  College  for  Women,  and  the 
noble  equipment  of  the  Medical  College.  Nor  are  we  yet 
in  sight  of  the  end  and  we  may  be  thankful  that  so  many 
others  have  been  drawn  into  this  stream  of  healthful 
beneficence  to  build  up  with  the  procession  of  the  years 
a  worthy  university  of  learning. 

The  early  responsibility  assumed  by  Cleveland 
Presbyterians  to  sustain  Western  Reserve  College, 
after  the  Congregational  support  had  been  largely 
diverted  to  Oberlin,  caused  for  years  apparent  in- 
difference on  part  of  the  former  body  of  Christians 
toward  their  Synodical  College  founded  fifty  years 
ago  at  Wooster,  Ohio. 

The  catholicity  of  Dr.  Haydn's  mind  was  never 
more  clearly  seen  than  when  after  his  presidency  of 


GOOD  MEASURE  329 

Western  Reserve  University  had  closed  he  and 
another  Cleveland  pastor,  at  the  request  of  the  late 
Elder  Louis  H.  Severance,  investigated  the  needs  of 
the  distinct  Presbyterian  college  and  reported  it 
worthy  of  financial  assistance.  How  that  honored 
Presbyterian  elder  befriended  Western  Reserve  Uni- 
versity, Wooster  and  Oberlin  Colleges  is  a  story  well 
known  to  the  present  generation.  Dr.  Haydn  rejoiced 
in  the  rebuilding  of  the  College  of  Wooster,  after  the 
visitation  of  a  disastrous  fire,  and  did  all  in  his  power 
to  make  the  financial  campaign  for  restoration  a 
success. 

In  the  Presbyterian  Union  of  Cleveland,  a  volun- 
tary association  of  laymen  designed  to  further  the 
interests  of  local  church  extension.  Dr.  Haydn  had 
been  a  natural  leader,  thus  strengthening  that  line  of 
denominational  effort,  not  directly  controlled  by  the 
Stone  Church.  Twice  he  served  as  president  of  this 
union,  once  soon  after  coming  to  Cleveland,  and  a 
second  time  when  pastor  emeritus.  A  discouraging 
indebtedness  had  accumulated  upon  several  new 
church  enterprises,  by  reason  of  the  failure  of  the 
Presbyterian  Union  to  render  proper  assistance.  A 
debt  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  demanded  cancella- 
tion; while  a  similar  amount  was  imperative  to  meet 
the  needs  of  advance  work.  Dr.  Haydn  was  in  no 
physical  condition  to  enter  this  last  financial  cam- 
paign of  his  strenuous  career,  and  his  response  to  the 
call  of  the  church  no  doubt  hastened  the  end  of  his 
life.  The  reaction  from  the  effort  to  raise  these  funds 
caused  at  Christmas  time,  1908,  a  partial  stroke  of 


330  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

paralysis,  leaving  the  patient  partially  crippled,  until 
July  29,  1913,  when  the  speedy  effects  of  a  second 
stroke  brought  release. 

The  funeral  services  were  held  on  Monday  after- 
noon, August  4,  1913,  in  the  Florence  Harkness 
Chapel.  They  were  conducted  by  the  Reverend  An- 
drew B.  Meldrum,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Stone  Church, 
assisted  by  President  Charles  F.  Thwing,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  of  Western  Reserve  University.  The  pall- 
bearers were  Elders  Sereno  P.  Fenn,  William  E.  Cush- 
ing,  Lucien  B.  Hall,  Martyn  Bonnell,  Livingston 
Fewsmith,  Dr.  H.  H.  Powell,  Professor  H.  E.  Bourne 
and  Professor  Frank  P.  Whitman.  Later  in  the  year, 
on  Sunday  evening,  September  28,  1913,  memorial 
services  were  held  in  the  Stone  Church.  The  Rev- 
erend Andrew  B.  Meldrum,  D.D.,  delivered  "A  Per- 
sonal Appreciation;"  President  Charles  F.  Thwing, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  gave  a  personal  tribute  closing: 

Dr.  Haydn  wished  me  to  become  president  at  the  college 
in  1888.  I  said,  "No,  I  cannot  come."  The  invitation 
was  repeated  two  years  after  that,  and  I  came.  To  me, 
as  Dr.  Meldrum  has  said  he  was  to  him,  he  was  as  a 
father. 

The  Reverend  Paul  F.  Sutphen,  D.D.,  spoke  of  Dr. 
Haydn  as  **A  Cleveland  Minister."  The  Reverend 
Arthur  C.  Ludlow,  D.D.,  stated  clerk  of  Presbytery, 
depicted  Dr.  Haydn  "As  a  Member  of  Presbytery." 

Addresses  were  also  delivered  by  the  Reverends 
WilberC.  Mickey,  D.D.,  and  Edwards  P.  Cleaveland, 
representing  churches  founded  by  the  Stone  Church; 
while  Elder  Sereno  P.  Fenn  spoke  in|behalf  of  the 


GOOD  MEASURE  331 

session  of  the  Stone  Church.  Letters  from  six  former 
associate  pastors  were  read.  These  addresses,  letters, 
and  various  resolutions  prepared  at  the  time  of  Dr. 
Haydn's  death  were  published  in  a  memorial  pam- 
phlet. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  overflow  of  power  in  the 
life  of  this  servant  of  God  was  in  his  own  mental  and 
spiritual  virility  almost  to  the  eighty-second  year  of 
life.  To  the  majority  of  students  there  comes  an 
inevitable  *'dead-line,"  no  matter  how  vigorous  they 
may  have  been.  The  busy  pastor  can  not  always 
follow  the  swift  changes  in  theological  and  scientific 
thought,  and  toward  the  end  of  life  is  tempted  to 
tremble  for  the  future  of  the  work  that  he  so  dearly 
loves. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  life,  in  a  paper  prepared 
for  the  Presbyterian  Club  composed  of  ministerial 
brethren,  Dr.  Haydn  expressed  these  thoughts: 

There  is  no  new  gospel.  New  emphasis,  neglected  truths, 
new  applications,  new  adjustments  to  the  needs  of  an 
age  like  this,  seething  with  new  ideas  and  vexed  with 
new  and  difficult  problems,  are  called  for.  The  situation, 
as  related  to  the  minister  of  the  gospel,  how  different 
from  that  of  the  pastor  of  fifty  years  ago,  the  end  of  whose 
ministry  was  personal  conversion  and  the  edification  of 
the  church.  Now  the  test  of  all  things,  education,  wealth, 
church,  and  ministry  is  the  social  service  test,  the  indi- 
vidual for  the  sake  of  the  many. 

The  man  educated  for  the  ministry  thirty  or  forty 
years  ago  finds  himself  in  an  embarrassing  situation.  He 
is  not  equipped  to  handle  and  cope  with  the  new  forces 
about  him.  His  knowledge  is  not  equal  to  his  love  and 
zeal.    Wide  fields  for  study  have  emerged  to  view  since 


332  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

he  was  simply  a  student,  and  he  has  not  kept  up  with 
them.  Tempted  to  say  something  upon  matters  with 
which  he  is  not  conversant  he  often  speaks  foohshly  and 
loses  the  respect  of  men  wiser  than  he.  The  social, 
ethical,  economic  problems  of  the  day  are  too  much  for 
us;  the  sceptre  of  leadership  has  passed  from  our  hands. 
A  generation  of  ministers  trained  broadly  today  for  the 
work  of  today  is  an  imperative  need  of  the  hour.  This 
is  not  and  should  not  be  spoken  reproachfully  of  the 
ministry  of  today. 

We  of  the  last  fifty  years  have  had  our  hands  and  hearts 
pretty  full  to  keep  up  with  the  new  learning  that  centers 
around  our  precious  Bible  and  the  theological  adjust- 
ments made  necessary.  The  transition  for  example  from 
the  Calvinistic  Sovereignty  to  a  Father  Sovereign  and  a 
Sovereign  Father  is  a  stride  immense,  and  reaches  down 
to  the  depths  and  out  to  the  utmost  verge  of  theology, 
yes,  and  to  the  service  of  man  for  men,  for  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  meant  for  all  men  and  all  time.  Yea,  further, 
it  reaches  into  the  life  beyond  and  pervades  eschatology. 
Or  again,  the  historical  approach  to  the  Bible  with  its 
accompanying  necessary  and  inevitable  thesis  of  a  pro- 
gressive revelation,  or  disclosing  God  to  man,  putting 
each  of  these  little  books  and  their  authors,  so  far  as 
possible,  before  us  in  their  precise  environment  in  time 
and  space,  of  their  birth  and  mission,  ends  and  aims,  has 
revolutionized  exegesis,  and  given  birth  to  a  deal  of 
helpful  and  inspiring  literature,  as  well  as  new  editions 
of  the  Bible,  following  the  revision  of  the  King  James' 
version  till  the  dear  old  Book  speaks  to  the  eye,  as  well 
as  to  the  ear,  and  through  both  to  the  heart,  in  a  trans- 
lation probably  as  faithful  to  the  originals  as  we  are  ever 
likely  to  get.  These  are  some  of  the  great  achievements 
and  happenings  in  my  day,  issuing  in  a  more  catholic 
spirit,  ever-growing  unity  of  believers,  a  deeper  sense  of 
the  presence  of  God  immanent  in  the  universe,  dwelling 


GOOD  MEASURE  333 

in  us  by  His  spirit,  and  moving  us  to  the  service  of  minis- 
tration, even  as  the  Christ  who  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for 
many.  To  get  these  vital  matters  clearly  in  hand  our- 
selves and  then  wisely  give  them  to  our  churches  as  they 
are  able  to  bear  them,  has  kept  us  pretty  busy,  if  we 
have  really  attempted  it.  We  bespeak  for  those  who  come 
after  us  more  knowledge,  wisdom  and  devotion,  and  for 
ourselves  forgiveness  and  acceptance  through  Christ  our 
Lord.  A  better  time  in  which  to  live  and  work  seems 
scarcely  open  to  any  generation  of  men. 

Such  a  contrast  between  the  earlier  and  later  minis- 
try of  his  long  life  was  drawn  in  the  spirit  of  true 
humility,  but  few  aged  ministers  have  been  better 
able  than  was  Dr.  Haydn  to  keep  abreast  of  the 
times  with  open  and  eager  mind  for  the  reception  of 
truth.  Thus  as  pastor  emeritus  the  Reverend  Hiram 
Collins  Haydn  might  have  rested  content  with  blind 
Milton's  comforting  assurance  that  "they  also  serve 
who  only  stand  and  wait."  Working  on,  however,  he 
who  during  two  pastorates  had  guided  the  over- 
flowing influence  of  the  Stone  Church  into  local 
church  extension,  into  educational  upbuilding  and 
into  missionary  effort  of  every  kind  at  home  and 
abroad,  with  overflowing  mind  and  heart  toward  all 
things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  entered  into 
rest  and  his  exceeding  great  reward. 
Servant  of  God,  well  done; 

Rest  from  thy  loved  employ; 
The  battle  fought,  the  vict'ry  won, 

Enter  thy  Master's  joy. 


XL   HELPERS  ALL 

In  ancient  warfare  leaders  had  attendants  to  ac- 
company them  into  battle.  Thus  Jonathan  and  his 
armor-bearer  scaled  steep  walls  and  routed  the  garri- 
son of  the  Philistines.  Nonconformist  churches  have 
found  it  difficult  to  maintain  an  association  of  minis- 
ters in  one  parish,  and  yet  the  average  city  church 
greatly  needs  that  cooperative  service.  Assistant 
and  associate  pastorates,  however,  are  increasing. 

The  Old  Stone  Church  has  pioneered  in  the  em- 
ployment at  one  time  of  a  variety  of  pastors.  Per- 
haps this  has  been  more  successful  when  the  collegiate 
church  existed,  but  congenial  cooperation  has  also 
reigned  when  religious  activities  were  confined  to  one 
congregation.  The  succession  of  assistant  and  asso- 
ciate pastors  has  been  notable  and  should  not  be 
minimized  in  summarizing  the  influence  of  the  Stone 
Church  during  the  last  one  hundred  years. 

The  greater  number  of  ministerial  helpers  served 
during  the  pastorates  of  Dr.  Haydn,  who  treated 
them  as  associates  in  every  respect.  Young  ministers 
generally  fear  this  kind  of  service  as  a  mere  secre- 
tarial or  administrative  experience  that  will  permit 
little  cultivation  of  initiative.  No  young  clergyman 
associated  with  Dr.  Haydn  every  found  such  fears 
realized.    One  of  these  once  gave  this  testimony: 

It  is  difficult  for  me  now  to  realize  how  at  first  I  was  not 

a  little  afraid  of  Dr.  Haydn.    The   feeling  was  so  short 


336  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

lived  and  gave  place  so  early  to  the  opposite  that  I  can- 
not realize  that  I  was  ever  anything  but  perfectly  at 
home  with  him. 

The  Reverend  William  H.  Goodrich,  D.D.,  was 
for  three  years  associate  pastor  with  Dr.  Samuel  C. 
Aiken,  and  in  turn  Dr.  Hiram  C.  Haydn  was  for  two 
years  officially  associated  with  Dr.  William  H.  Good- 
rich, although  the  latter  spent  those  years  abroad, 
and  there  was  affiliation  of  the  two  ministers  in 
spirit  only. 

When  the  Wasonville  Mission  was  inaugurated, 
demand  for  occasional  preaching  led  in  1866  to  the 
securing  of  the  Reverend  Aaron  Peck  to  care  for  that 
field.  Born  at  Orange,  N.  J.,  June  7,  1836,  he 
graduated  from  Princeton  College  in  1857.  Ill  health 
interrupted  studies  for  two  years,  but  in  1864,  having 
graduated  from  Union  Seminary,  he  was  licensed  by 
the  Newark  Presbytery  and  ordained  on  May  8,  1866, 
by  the  Cleveland  and  Portage  Presbytery.  For  two 
years  he  labored  in  Cleveland,  and  then  after  Euro- 
pean travel  he  became  for  nine  years  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  at  Perth  Amboy,  N.  J. 

The  Williamsburgh  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  was 
the  next  field  of  service,  after  which  he  returned  to 
Perth  Amboy.  In  1884  he  removed  to  New  York 
City,  where  he  lived  until  the  time  of  death  on  July 
3,  1901.  He  married  in  1859  Miss  Julia  Manning,  of 
Newark,  N.  J.,  who  died  in  1909,  leaving  one  daughter, 
the  wife  of  the  Reverend  H.  G.  Mendenhall,  D.D., 
of  New  York  City,  who  has  been  for  a  number  of 


HELPERS  ALL  337 

years  the  efficient  moderator  of  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York. 

The  Reverend  B.  P.  Johnson  worked  a  while  in  the 
Wasonville  Mission.  His  daughter  Annie  was  a 
sweet-voiced  gospel  singer,  who  went  to  China  as 
Mrs.  Laughlin,  and  who  died  after  three  years'  serv- 
ice in  behalf  of  Chinese  women. 

While  this  mission,  which  became  the  North  Pres- 
byterian Church,  was  under  the  control  of  the  Stone 
Church,  the  Reverend  D.  W.  Sharts  served  it  from 
1868  to  1870.  He  became  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  at  Owosso,  Mich.,  and  later  entered 
business  in  that  place.  He  also  served  a  term  in  the 
state  legislature. 

From  1877  to  1880  Mr.  B.  F.  Shuart,  a  layman  of 
rare  fitness  for  church  work,  had  special  charge  of 
the  St.  Clair  Street  Mission  and  a  Sunday  afternoon 
Bible  class.  The  first  effort  in  behalf  of  the  Chinese 
in  Cleveland  was  started  in  his  home.  Finally  he  was 
ordained  and  went  to  a  church  in  Billings,  Montana, 
but  ill  health  resulting  from  an  injury  caused  him  to 
turn  to  sheep  raising,  in  which  he  was  very  success- 
ful. In  later  life  he  spent  six  months  in  Cleveland 
and  again  did  efficient  work  in  the  Stone  Church. 
No  particulars  relating  to  more  recent  years  have 
been  obtained. 

As  Dr.  Haydn  was  leaving  Cleveland  in  1880  to 
serve  the  American  Board  he  recommended  the  secur- 
ing of  Mr.  Rollo  Ogden,  a  recent  seminary  graduate. 
The  son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister,  he  was  born  at 
Sand  Lake,  N.  Y.,  on  January  19,  1856;  graduated 


338  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

from  Williams  College  in  1877,  and  then  spent  two 
years  at  Andover  and  one  at  Union  Seminary.  He 
was  ordained  by  Cleveland  Presbytery,  and  on  No- 
vember 30, 1881,  married  Miss  Susan  M.  Mitchell,  the 
daughter  of  the  Reverend  Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D., 
pastor  of  the  Stone  Church.  The  young  minister  and 
bride  at  once  entered  missionary  service  in  Mexico 
City,  but  were  compelled  in  1883  to  return  to  Cleve- 
land on  account  of  Mrs.  Ogden's  critical  illness.  The 
Case  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  at  once  called  the 
Reverend  RoUo  Ogden,  who  served  that  congrega- 
tion until  he  demitted  the  ministry  in  1887  in  order 
to  enter  literary  work  in  New  York  City.  In  1891  he 
became  a  member  of  the  New  York  Posfs  editorial 
staff,  on  which  influential  paper  he  rose  in  1903  to 
become  editor-in-chief.  That  position  was  held  until 
1920,  when  Mr.  Ogden  became  an  associate  editor 
of  the  New  York  Times.  His  home  address  is  216 
Summit  Avenue,  Summit,  N.  J.  Williams  College, 
in  1904,  conferred  upon  Mr.  Ogden  the  honorary  de- 
gree of  doctor  of  literature.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ogden 
have  three  children,  Alice  and  Nelson  residing  with 
their  parents,  while  Winifred,  now  Mrs.  John  Lind- 
ley,  lives  in  Cambridge,  Mass. 

The  Reverend  John  W.  Simpson  was  an  associate 
pastor  from  1882  to  1884.  Born  at  Altoona,  Pa.,  on 
May  7,  1852,  he  received  college  training  at  Wooster 
University;  attended  Western  Theological  Seminary, 
1875-1876;  ordained  in  1879  and  served  as  stated 
supply  at  Rouseville,  Pa.,  1876-1878.  He  was  pas- 
tor of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Olean,  N.  Y.,  from 


HELPERS  ALL  339 

1879  to  1882,  and  then  came  to  Cleveland  to  work 
mainly  in  connection  with  Calvary  Mission.  This 
was  followed  by  a  pastorate  of  eight  years  in  the  First 
Congregational  Church,  Walnut  Hills,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  where  as  president  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance 
he  became  influential  in  efi^ecting  municipal  reforms. 
From  1892  to  1896  he  was  president  of  Marietta  Col- 
lege, and  then  entered  insurance  business  in  Cincin- 
nati and  in  New  York  City.  In  the  latter  place  of 
residence  he  died  on  March  19,  1909,  when  the  apart- 
ment house  in  which  he  lived  was  burned,  he  having 
sacrified  his  life  for  the  saving  of  others. 

At  the  commencement  of  Dr.  Haydn's  second  pas- 
torate the  Reverend  Wilton  Merle  Smith  was  in- 
stalled as  associate  pastor,  and  served  almost  five 
years,  from  October  1,  1884  to  April  1,  1889.  He  was 
born  at  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  April  18,  1856;  graduated 
from  Princeton  College  in  1877,  and  from  Auburn 
Seminary  in  1881.  The  Presbyterian  Church  at  Caze- 
novia,  N.  Y.,  was  first  served,  followed  by  the  Cleve- 
land pastorate.  He  married  Miss  Zaidee  Van  Sant- 
voord  of  New  York  City,  on  November  19,  1885.  In 
1889  a  call  to  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church, 
New  York  City,  was  accepted,  a  metropolitan  pas- 
torate that  continued  until  July  1,  1920,  a  period  of 
thirty-one  years. 

This  important  service  was  relinquished  when  the 
church  was  at  the  height  of  its  prosperity.  The 
annual  benevolences  amount  to  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  used  mainly  to  sustain  one  of  the  best 
equipped  stations  in  China,  having  thirty  buildings. 


340  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

fifteen  missionaries,  forty  assistants  and  seventy 
native  helpers.  A  large  mission  is  likewise  supported 
in  New  York  City.  Dr.  Wilton  Merle-Smith  expects 
to  devote  much  time  to  the  interests  of  the  Assem- 
bly's Board  of  Home  Missions,  of  which  he  is  presi- 
dent. 

His  family  consists  of  wife  and  three  children,  two 
daughters,  Dorothy,  the  wife  of  David  McAlpin  Pyle, 
of  Morristown,  N.  J.,  and  Anita,  wife  of  James  Mc- 
Alpin Pyle  of  the  same  city.  The  son.  Van  Santvoord 
Merle-Smith,  graduated  from  Princeton  University 
in  1911  and  from  Harvard  Law  School  in  1914.  He 
served  as  major  during  the  present  war,  was  twice 
wounded  and  received  the  distinguished  service  cross. 
He  also  was  military  aide  and  private  secretary  to 
Secretary  of  State  Lansing  at  the  Paris  Peace  Con- 
ference, and  was  recently  appointed  Third  Assistant 
Secretary  of  State  at  Washington.  Dr.  Wilton  Merle- 
Smith  received  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of 
divinity  in  1889  from  Princeton  University. 

When  Dr.  Haydn  assumed  the  presidency  of  West- 
ern Reserve  University  the  associated  service  of  the 
Reverend  Wilton  Merle-Smith  was  supplemented  by 
the  engagement  of  the  Reverend  Giles  H.  Dunning. 
He  was  born  at  Shelby,  Ohio,  on  May  7,  1851,  but 
when  seven  years  of  age  the  parents  removed  to  New 
York  State,  where  the  son  was  educated  at  Cazenovia 
Academy,  Syracuse  University,  and  Auburn  Semi- 
nary. Before  entering  the  seminary  he  had  held  two 
appointments  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
one  at  Youngstown,  N.  Y.,  and  the  other  at  Ham- 


HELPERS  ALL  341 

burg,  N.  Y.,  each  one  two  years  in  duration.  He 
went  from  Auburn  Seminary  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Dryden,  N.  Y.,  where  he  remained  two 
years.  The  Breckenridge,  now  West  Avenue  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  was  the  second 
pastoral  settlement  in  the  Presbyterian  ministry. 
Thence  he  came  to  Cleveland  to  help  in  the  Stone 
Church  work,  but  all  his  time  was  soon  demanded 
by  the  West  Side  Mission,  which  became  Bethany 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  of  which  he  served  as  pas- 
tor for  a  period  of  thirteen  years. 

Within  six  months  after  he  had  been  installed 
pastor  of  the  Orwell  Church,  on  January  8,  1902, 
there  came  a  severe  stroke  of  paralysis,  from  which 
there  was  recovery  with  the  exception  of  the  loss  of 
speech.  This  continued  until  the  time  of  death  on 
September  29,  1911.  The  last  decade  of  life,  however, 
was  not  one  of  idleness,  for  having  in  youth  learned 
a  trade  he  kept  busy  at  useful  toil  in  his  home  until 
the  end  came.  The  burial  was  at  Knollwood  Ceme- 
tery, near  Gates  Mill.  Mrs.  Dunning  and  one  son 
continue  to  reside  in  Cleveland.  A  son  lives  in  Chi- 
cago; while  the  third  son,  who  served  in  the  recent 
war,  has  been  under  hospital  care  near  Baltimore. 

The  Reverend  Joseph  H.  Selden  was  an  associate 
pastor  from  1887  to  1892,  when  the  Stone  Church 
and  Calvary  Mission  existed  in  collegiate  form.  He 
resigned  to  become  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church,  Elgin,  111.,  where  he  remained  until  1900.  In 
an  industrial  city  the  work  was  of  an  institutional 
character.    In   1898  Beloit  College  conferred  upon 


342  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

him  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity.  Dr. 
Selden  became  in  1900  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
church  at  Norwich,  Conn.,  his  native  place,  and  for 
eleven  years  he  rendered  a  progressive  service,  espe- 
cially in  the  enlargement  of  church  facilities.  There 
he  also  became  connected  with  the  organized  benevo- 
lences of  his  denomination,  such  as  the  American 
Board,  the  Board  of  Ministerial  Relief  and  the  Home 
Missionary  Society.  Since  the  close  of  the  Norwich 
pastorate  special  supply  service  has  also  been  ren- 
dered in  churches  such  as  the  North  Woodward  Ave- 
nue Church,  Detroit,  and  the  United  Congregational 
Church  at  Norwich.  During  the  war  Dr.  Selden  was 
connected  with  the  Red  Cross  work.  He  resides  at 
Norwich,  Conn. 

During  the  last  two  years  of  Dr.  Selden's  Stone 
Church  pastorate  the  Reverend  Burt  Estes  Howard 
was  an  associate.  His  youth  was  spent  in  East  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  where  he  early  became  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  church.  Having  entered  Western  Re- 
serve College  at  Hudson,  Ohio,  in  1879,  graduation 
came  from  Adelbert  College  in  1883,  and  from  Lane 
Seminary  in  1886.  The  first  pastorate  of  four  years, 
from  1886  to  1890,  was  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  Bay  City,  Mich.  From  that  field  he  came 
to  the  Stone  Church  and  served  until  1902,  when  a 
call  was  accepted  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

The  Reverend  Burt  Estes  Howard  went  to  Harvard 
University  to  study  a  year  and  then  became  assistant 
professor  of  political  science  at  Leland  Stanford  Uni- 


HELPERS  ALL  343 

versity.  After  two  years'  teaching  he  went  to  Berlin, 
Germany,  where  in  1903  he  received  his  doctorate. 
Research  work  continued  at  Harvard  University  re- 
sulted in  the  publication  in  1906  of  an  important 
work  on  The  German  Empire.  In  1908  he  returned 
to  Leland  Stanford  University  as  professor  of  polit- 
ical science,  and  there  remained  a  popular  teacher 
until  his  death  in  1913. 

When  the  Reverend  Burt  Estes  Howard  resigned 
the  Stone  Church  pastorate  the  Reverend  William 
Allen  Knight  was  installed  in  July  of  1892,  and  served 
until  July  1,  1894.  Born  at  Milton,  Missouri,  on 
October  20,  1863,  he  was  the  son  of  a  Disciple  minis- 
ter who  still  resides  in  Cleveland.  The  father  was 
once  pastor  of  the  Miles  Avenue  Disciple  Church,  and 
at  that  time  the  son,  having  graduated  from  the  Cen- 
tral High  School,  entered  Adelbert  College  in  the 
class  of  1886.  At  the  close  of  the  sophomore  year 
young  Knight  accepted  a  pastorate  of  a  Disciple 
church  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  where  he  remained  three 
years.  This  was  followed  by  a  pastorate  with  teach- 
ing at  Hiram  College,  where  he  received  in  1889  his 
bachelor  of  arts  degree. 

Mr.  Knight  left  the  church  in  which  he  began  his 
ministry  to  become  pastor  of  the  East  Madison  Ave- 
nue Congregational  Church  of  Cleveland,  from  which 
he  was  called  to  the  Stone  Church.  After  Congrega- 
tional pastorates  in  Saginaw,  Mich.,  1894-1897,  the 
Central  Church,  Fall  River,  Mass.,  1897-1902,  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Brighton  Congregational  Church, 
Boston,  Mass.,  a  pastorate  of  seventeen  years.    In 


344  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

September  of  1919  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Con- 
gregational Church  at  Framingham,  Mass.,  a  parish 
founded  in  1701,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  oldest 
normal  school  in  the  country,  in  one  of  whose  build- 
ings "The  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic"  was  first 
sung.  The  Reverend  William  Allen  Knight  published 
in  1904  "The  Song  of  our  Syrian  Guest,"  a  unique 
exposition  of  the  Twenty-third  Psalm,  and  an  im- 
mense number  of  copies  have  been  published.  This 
success  has  been  followed  by  more  than  a  dozen 
literary  works.  The  degree  of  master  of  arts  was 
received  in  1905  from  Harvard  University;  that  of 
bachelor  of  divinity  in  1909  from  Oberlin  Seminary; 
while  the  degree  of  doctor  of  literature  was  conferred 
in  1915  by  both  Grinnell  College  of  Iowa  and  Bates 
College  in  Maine. 

At  the  time  the  Reverend  William  Allen  Knight 
was  called  to  the  Stone  Church  the  Reverend  Robert 
A.  George  was  employed  as  an  assistant  pastor  to 
have  special  charge  of  the  Bolton  Avenue  Mission, 
which  formed  the  third  congregation  in  the  collegiate 
Stone  Church.  Reared  in  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  he  had  been  pastor  of  the  First  United  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Cleveland.  He  resigned  that 
charge  to  enter  the  work  at  Bolton  Avenue  Mission. 
The  difficulties  that  there  arose  prompted  the  forma- 
tion of  Trinity  Congregational  Church,  of  which  the 
Reverend  Robert  A.  George  was  founder  and  first 
pastor  for  nearly  fifteen  years.  From  that  field  he 
went  for  seven  years  to  the  Lake  View  [now  Calvary] 
Congregational  Church  of  Cleveland.    This  was  fol- 


HELPERS  ALL  345 

lowed  by  service  in  Florida,  but  recently  a  call  has 
been  accepted  to  the  Congregational  church  at  Mem- 
phis, Tennessee. 

The  Reverend  John  Sheridan  Zelie  was  called  from 
the  Congregational  church  at  Plymouth,  Conn., 
where  he  had  served  from  1890  to  1894,  to  suc- 
ceed the  Reverend  Robert  A.  George  in  the  Bolton 
Avenue  Mission.  Born  at  Princeton,  Mass.,  on  May 
3,  1866,  the  son  of  a  minister,  he  graduated  from 
Williams  College  in  1887  and  from  Yale  Divinity 
School  in  1890.  When  the  collegiate  Stone  Church 
was  dissolved  this  assistant  minister  became  the  first 
pastor  of  the  Bolton  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  served  for  six  years,  until  called  in  1900  to  the 
First  Reformed  Church,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  Then 
followed  the  pastorate  of  sixteen  years  in  the  Cres- 
cent Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 
In  1904  his  alma  mater  conferred  upon  him  the  hono- 
rary degree  of  doctor  of  divinity. 

During  the  recent  war  Dr.  Zelie  served  as  chaplain 
in  field  hospital  and  ambulance  divisions,  and  at 
Base  Hospital  30,  American  Expeditionary  Force,  in 
France,  1918-1919.  Accounts  of  these  war  experi- 
ences were  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  and  in 
some  of  the  prominent  papers.  During  his  ministry 
Dr.  Zelie  has  written  many  sketches  and  editorials, 
especially  for  the  Sunday  School  Times.  He  is  also 
the  author  of  several  books.  Recently  he  became 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

When  the  Stone  Church  celebrated  its  seventy-fifth 
anniversary  the  Reverend  and  Mrs.   Frederick  W. 


346  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Jackson  were  rendering  temporary  service.  They  had 
recently  returned  from  Shantung,  China,  where  they 
had  been  from  1892  to  1894.  Mr.  Jackson  was  born 
at  Newark,  N.  J.,  on  June  1,  1867;  was  graduated 
from  Princeton  University  in  1887;  took  postgraduate 
work  at  Columbia  University;  theological  studies  at 
Princeton  Seminary;  medical  courses  in  Bellevue  Hos- 
pital Medical  College  and  at  Jena  University.  After 
a  year  as  assistant  pastor  in  the  South  Park  Presby- 
terian Church,  Newark,  N.  J.,  the  foreign  service  was 
undertaken.  The  Reverend  F.  W.  Jackson  did  not 
return  to  China,  but  became  pastor  of  the  Scotch 
Presbyterian  Church,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  1896-1900; 
of  the  Dorland  Memorial  Church,  Hot  Springs,  N.  C, 
1900-1906;  professor  in  Bloomfield  Seminary,  1908- 
1917;  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  Secretary 
at  Camp  Gordon;  in  France,  1918-1919,  and  has 
recently  been  connected  with  the  Interchurch  Move- 
ment as  survey  supervisor  for  Oklahoma.  He  resides 
at  Glen  Ridge,  N.  J. 

The  Reverend  Henry  Woodward  Hulbert,  D.D., 
the  last  pastor  to  serve  with  Dr.  Haydn,  was  the 
grandson  of  the  Reverend  Henry  Woodward,  the  first 
foreign  missionary  to  go  from  Princeton  Seminary, 
having  been  sent  to  Ceylon  in  1820.  The  father  of 
this  Stone  Church  assistant  was  president  at  one  time 
of  Middlebury  College,  from  which  the  son  graduated 
in  1879.  After  three  years  of  teaching  he  attended 
Union  Seminary,  where  he  graduated  in  1885.  He 
immediately  went  to  the  Syrian  Protestant  College, 
Beirut,  and  taught  until  1888.    After  returning  he 


HELPERS  ALL  347 

served  as  professor  of  history  and  political  science 
at  Marietta  College,  1889-1894;  he  was  ordained  to 
the  Presbyterian  ministry  in  1889;  was  professor  of 
church  history  at  Lane  Seminary,  1894-1897,  and 
then  accepted  the  Stone  Church  call  and  continued 
in  that  pastorate  from  1897  to  1901,  when  for  five 
years  he  was  professor  of  church  history  in  the  Bangor 
Congregational  Seminary.  For  four  years  he  was  in 
the  High  Street  Congregational  Church,  Portland, 
Maine,  and  in  1914  went  to  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Groton,  Conn.,  where  he  now  serves. 

Professor  Hulbert  is  a  member  of  learned  societies, 
and  has  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  religious  en- 
cyclopedias, dictionaries,  and  reviews,  as  well  as  the 
author  of  several  books.  His  two  brothers,  Homer  B. 
and  Archer  B.,  have  attained  high  reputations,  one 
for  his  educational  service  in  Korea,  and  the  other 
for  his  historical  research  work.  The  degree  of  doctor 
of  divinity  was  conferred  upon  Professor  Henry  W. 
Hulbert  by  Middlebury  and  Marietta  Colleges  in 
1900. 

Mrs.  Hulbert  died  soon  after  leaving  Cleveland 
and  the  surviving  children  have  followed  in  the  foot- 
steps of  their  parents.  Miss  Winifred  E.  Hulbert 
graduated  from  the  Woman's  College  in  1914;  studied 
a  year  at  Union  Seminary;  taught  a  year  in  The  Con- 
stantinople College  for  Women;  was  fifteen  months 
in  France  in  war  work,  and  now  for  the  last  two  years 
she  has  been  teaching  again  in  Constantinople. 
Chauncey  Prime  graduated  from  Dartmouth  in  1915; 
spent  a  year  at  Union  Seminary;  taught  a  year  at 


348  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Robert  College,  Constantinople;  entered  the  army  in 
1918,  and  was  second  lieutenant  at  its  close.  Ralph 
Wheelock  took  his  master  of  arts  degree  at  Columbia 
this  year.  Woodward  D.  graduated  from  Dartmouth 
in  1918  and  was  a  second  lieutenant  at  the  close  of 
the  war.  During  1919  he  was  instructor  at  Syrian 
Protestant  College,  Beirut.  Kathryn  graduated  from 
the  Connecticut  College  for  Women  in  1920,  and  sails 
soon  to  be  an  instructor  in  the  Faculty  School  at 
Beirut,  Syria.  The  youngest  child,  Hilda  Lyman, 
graduated  from  the  Free  Academy,  Norwich,  Conn., 
this  year. 

During  the  transitional  period  between  the  close 
of  Dr.  Haydn's  pastorate  and  the  settlement  of  Dr. 
Meldrum,  the  Reverend  Paul  R.  Hickok  proved  an 
effective  assistant  for  two  years.  He  is  the  son  of  a 
clergyman  and  was  born  in  Nebraska  City  on  April 
6,  1877.  Having  graduated  from  Wooster  College  in 
1897,  he  attended  Auburn  Seminary,  from  which  he 
came  to  the  Stone  Church.  He  was  married  on  Sep- 
tember 6,  1900,  to  Miss  Mary  Elliott,  the  daughter 
of  the  Reverend  John  C.  Elliott,  for  many  years  a 
member  of  Cleveland  Presbytery.  From  1900  to  1909 
the  young  minister  was  chaplain  of  the  Fifth  Regi- 
ment, Ohio  National  Guard,  stationed  at  Cleveland. 

From  the  Stone  Church  he  went  to  the  Presby- 
terian church  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  where  he  labored 
until  1909,  and  then  accepted  a  call  to  the  Metro- 
politan Presbyterian  Church,  Washington,  D.C.  That 
charge  was  resigned  recently  in  order  to  accept  a 
call  to  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Troy,  N.  Y., 


HELPERS  ALL  349 

where  he  resides.  He  has  been  a  member  of  promi- 
nent General  Assembly  committees,  and  during  1918 
war  service  was  rendered  as  director  of  religious  work 
in  the  camps  at  Washington,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  National  Council  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association.  For  a  number  of  years  he  has  been  a 
trustee  of  Wooster  College;  while  Hanover  College 
at  its  last  commencement  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity. 

When  the  Lakewood  Hamlet  Mission  [now  the 
prosperous  Lakewood  Presbyterian  Church]  was  or- 
ganized by  the  Stone  Church,  a  young  minister  was 
secured  to  care  for  the  new  field.  The  Reverend 
Alfred  J.  Wright  has  now  been  for  fifteen  years  the 
first  pastor  of  the  Lakewood  Presbyterian  Church, 
having  guided  its  fortunes  through  the  days  of  wor- 
ship in  a  private  residence  to  those  of  chapel  life, 
until  there  came  the  completion  of  the  splendid  struc- 
ture on  the  corner  of  Detroit  and  Mario  Avenues. 
The  Lakewood  pastor  was  born  on  March  28,  1870, 
at  Springfield,  111.,  not  because  his  parents  resided 
there,  but  for  the  reason  that  the  advent  came  when 
they  were  away  from  their  home  at  Sandusky,  Ohio. 
After  preparation  for  college  at  Western  Reserve 
Academy,  Hudson,  Ohio,  the  youth  entered  Adelbert 
College  in  the  class  of  1894,  and  then  graduated  from 
Union  Seminary  in  1897.  His  first  pastorate  of  six 
years  was  at  Rockville  Centre,  Long  Island;  the 
second,  that  of  two  years,  was  at  Mauch  Chunk,  Pa., 
whence  he  came  to  the  Lakewood  Mission,  concerning 
which  more  will  be  recorded. 


350  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

The  last  assistant  to  serve  the  Stone  Church  re- 
cently passed  away,  greatly  beloved  by  all  who  knew 
him.  Elder  Livingston  Fewsmith  was  not  an  asso- 
ciate pastor,  in  the  sense  of  having  received  minis- 
terial ordination,  but  in  all  other  respects  he  merited 
that  official  designation.  He  was  born  at  Auburn, 
N.  Y.,  on  March  26,  1849,  where  his  father,  the  Rev- 
erend Joseph  Fewsmith,  D.D.,  was  professor  of  homi- 
letics  at  Auburn  Theological  Seminary.  The  first 
American  ancestor  of  this  Smith  family,  for  origi- 
nally its  name  did  not  have  the  "Few"  family  prefix, 
came  to  Albany,  N.  Y.,  in  1636. 

The  father  of  the  Stone  Church  assistant  graduated 
from  Yale  College  in  1840,  and  taught  a  while  at 
Western  Reserve  College,  Hudson,  Ohio,  before  going 
to  Auburn  Seminary.  From  that  professorship  he 
went  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  Newark,  N.  J.,  where  until  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1888,  he  rendered  for  thirty-seven  years 
distinguished  service.  The  Fewsmith  Memorial  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Newark,  N.  J.,  bears  the  name  of 
this  faithful  servant  of  Christ.  Mrs.  Joseph  Few- 
smith  was  Miss  Emma  C.  Livingston,  and  the  son's 
Christian  name  was  that  of  his  mother's  family,  and 
not  that  of  the  African  missionary  as  many  have 
supposed. 

Livingston  Fewsmith,  after  preparation  at  Newark 
Academy  and  Phillips  Academy,  entered  Yale  College 
in  1866.  Eye  difficulty  interrupted  a  student  life 
before  the  end  of  the  freshman  year.  He  returned 
for  the  sophomore  year,  but  in  a  few  months  the 


HELPERS  ALL  351 

recurrent  trouble  ended  all  hope  of  a  college  course. 
Prolonged  confinement  in  a  darkened  room  alone 
saved  a  degree  of  normal  vision. 

Livingston  Fewsmith  married  Miss  Anna  Lee  Grant 
on  January  12,  1876,  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  entered 
business  life  in  New  York  City.  In  1880  he  was  sent 
to  Paris,  France,  where  he  represented  his  firm  for 
four  years.  Having  returned  to  this  country  he  en- 
tered the  insurance  business,  first  in  Newark,  N.  J., 
and  then  at  Chicago,  111.  From  1889  to  1897  he 
engaged  in  the  insurance  and  manufacturing  business 
in  Cleveland  and  Beaver  Falls,  Pa.,  returning  to  the 
former  city  to  manage  the  Peerless  Company  from 
1897  to  1903. 

He  first  became  a  ruling  elder  in  1877  in  his  father's 
church,  Newark,  N.  J.  In  Cleveland  his  member- 
ship was  in  the  Case  Avenue  Presbyterian  church 
and  then  in  the  Bolton  Avenue  Church,  where  it  re- 
mained until  the  time  of  death,  although  his  duties 
at  the  Stone  Church  necessitated  his  presence  there 
at  stated  times  for  worship.  For  seventeen  years 
pastoral  assistance  was  rendered  by  Elder  Fewsmith, 
and  although  the  last  few  years  were  marked  by 
increasing  physical  weakness,  he  continued  to 
serve  as  strength  permitted.  He  passed  away  on 
March  12,  1920,  and  is  survived  by  the  widow  and 
five  children,  Livingston,  William  Lee,  Anna,  Joseph, 
and  Alexander  Grant  Fewsmith. 

In  writing  to  the  church  at  Philippi,  St.  Paul  re- 
ferred to  women  who  had  labored  with  him  in  the 
gospel.  Women  have  also  rendered  special  assistance 
in  the  Stone  Church,  but  the  record  of  their  labors 


352  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

has  not  been  preserved  to  any  extent.  A  few  bore 
the  title  of  "missionary  assistant,"  or  "city  mission- 
ary assistant."  One  of  these  deserves  special  remem- 
brance. Miss  Maria  J.  Weaver  was  born  on  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1844,  at  Fairhaven,  Mass.,  opposite  New 
Bedford,  where  her  father  was  a  retired  sea-captain, 
her  mother  having  been  a  direct  descendant  of  John 
Alden.  After  a  common  and  boarding  school  educa- 
tion, she  taught  until  she  came  in  1866  to  Cleveland, 
when  twenty-two  years  of  age.  For  eighteen  years 
she  was  connected  with  the  Cleveland  Protestant  Or- 
phan Asylum,  first  in  charge  of  the  boys  and  then  of 
the  girls.  Her  efficiency  and  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  won 
the  hearts  of  the  children,  many  of  whom  in  later 
years  remembered  her  with  an  affection  like  that 
given  a  mother.  She  was  ever  seeking  the  child  who 
seemed  in  the  lowest  estate  and  making  efforts  to 
lift  him  up.  During  her  connection  with  the  asylum 
work  it  was  a  pleasant  duty  to  take  the  children  to 
the  North  Presbyterian  Sunday  School.  In  the  course 
of  time  she  became  missionary  visitor  in  the  North 
Presbyterian  Church,  carrying  into  that  work  the 
same  spirit  that  had  reigned  in  her  previous  service. 
Then  she  came  to  the  service  of  the  Stone  Church, 
where  during  the  last  nineteen  years  of  her  life  she 
acted  as  missionary  visitor,  winning  the  hearts  of  all 
whom  she  met  and  leaving  a  fragrance  in  the  homes 
of  the  poor  and  destitute.  Many  outcasts  were 
turned  into  paths  of  usefulness  by  her  consecrated 
efforts.  In  a  class  of  adults  connected  with  the  Bible 
school  she  was  the  leading  spirit,  loved  and  honored 


HELPERS  ALL  353 

as  a  woman  of  rare  good  judgment  and  of  absolute 
self-forgetfulness. 

During  May  of  1912  representatives  of  many  Stone 
Church  organizations  remembered  Miss  Weaver  with 
a  substantial  token  of  their  love  and  affection,  wish- 
ing her  length  of  days  in  her  retirement  from  active 
service,  but  that  was  not  to  be,  for  on  October  26, 
1912,  she  quietly  passed  away,  having  for  forty-six 
years  served  as  matron  and  city  missionary. 

Miss  Hazel  E.  Foster,  for  the  last  eight  years  mis- 
sionary assistant  in  the  Stone  Church,  is  the  daughter 
of  Mr.  Henry  B.  Foster,  editor-in-chief  of  the  Roch- 
ester Evening  TimeSy  but  for  four  generations  the 
Foster  family  has  resided  in  Ohio.  Miss  Foster's 
great-grandfather,  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  came  in 
an  oxcart  from  Connecticut  to  the  Western  Reserve, 
and  here  the  descendants  have  always  been  active 
in  religious  and  reform  work.  After  having  attended 
the  Cleveland  Denison  Grammar  and  Lincoln  High 
Schools,  Miss  Foster  for  two  years  was  a  student  in 
the  College  for  Women.  She  then  taught  a  year  at 
Independence,  Ohio,  before  going  to  Ohio  Wesleyan 
University,  from  which  she  graduated.  While  teach- 
ing for  three  years  in  the  Cleveland  public  schools 
she  also  became  connected  with  Hiram  House  classes 
in  story-telling,  dramatizing,  basketry,  boys'  club 
work,  and  other  lines  of  juvenile  instruction.  When 
about  to  assume  a  new  position  at  the  Hiram  House 
Mr.  Bellamy,  the  head  of  that  institution,  aware  of 
Miss  Foster's  interest  in  religious  and  social  endeav- 
ors, at  once  recommended  her  when  asked  to  suggest 


354  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

some  one  as  successor  to  Miss  Weaver  in  the  mission- 
ary work  at  the  Stone  Church.  With  such  splendid 
special  training,  in  addition  to  considerable  volunteer 
religious  and  philanthropic  service,  Miss  Foster 
assumed  her  position  in  the  Stone  Church  on  Sep- 
tember 1,  1912.  At  the  close  of  five  years'  service  a 
pamphlet  was  published  setting  forth  the  nature  of 
her  daily  work  in  the  down-town  districts.  During 
the  five  years  she  attended  to  almost  five  thousand 
calls,  distributed  forty-six  hundred  garments,  and 
handled  in  relief  work  twenty-five  hundred  dollars. 
Since  then  three  years  have  passed,  and  in  the  light 
of  the  eight  years'  devoted  missionary  service  Miss 
Foster  is  one  of  the  most  indispensable  helpers  in 
the  modern  life  of  the  Stone  Church. 

While  Miss  Weaver  was  connected  with  the  Stone 
Church  activities,  she  had  a  peculiarly  efficient  asso- 
ciate in  Miss  Marie  A.  Higley,  a  trained  nurse.  A 
number  of  the  members  of  the  Ladies'  Society  having 
become  interested  in  the  possibility  of  furnishing  free 
nursing  to  the  poor,  supported  Miss  Higley,  who  re- 
sided at  the  Goodrich  House,  where  she  also  engaged 
in  club  work.  **The  Baker's  Dozen,"  a  club  of  young 
college  women  organized  to  care  for  young  children, 
also  became  interested  in  Miss  Higley's  eff^orts.  She 
seems  to  have  been  the  forerunner  of  the  Visiting 
Nurses'  Association  afterwards  organized,  and  of 
which  she  became  a  member.  On  account  of  failing 
health  Miss  Higley  was  compelled  to  relinquish  nurs- 
ing until  recently,  when  she  began  to  give  part-time 


HELPERS  ALL  355 

service  to  the  work  of  the  Stone  Church  in  associa- 
tion with  Miss  Foster. 

The  secretarial  office  of  the  Stone  Church  has  been 
for  four  years  under  the  care  of  Miss  Carrie  Yindrock, 
whose  early  Christian  life  was  spent  in  the  Woodland 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  where  she  was  a  valued 
member  and  Sunday  School  teacher.  She  came  to 
the  Stone  Church  work  after  experience  gained  in  the 
office  of  a  leading  law  firm,  and  since  the  death  of 
Elder  Livingston  Fewsmith  her  church  membership 
has  been  transferred  from  the  Woodland  Avenue  to 
the  Stone  Church,  in  order  that  she  may  assist  in 
the  religious  activities,  especially  on  the  Sabbath,  as 
well  as  in  the  administrative  work  of  the  congrega- 
tion. 

What  a  noble  succession  of  voluntary  assistants 
has  blessed  the  Stone  Church,  such  as  Sunday  School 
superintendents  and  officers  of  various  church  organi- 
zations. Toward  what  has  seemed  to  the  centennial 
historian  to  be  the  premature  ending  of  his  research, 
three  ancient  Sunday  School  record  books  have  been 
discovered.  One  contains  the  names  of  the  pupils  in 
attendance  upon  the  Stone  Church  Sunday  School 
from  1836  to  1840,  the  names  of  their  parents,  thelat- 
ter's  occupations  and  places  of  residence.  The  open- 
ing pages  of  another  record  book  refer  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Sunday  School  in  1832  in  "Cleveland  School 
District  No.  2,"  probably  a  mission  of  the  Stone 
Church.  It  was  organized  in  the  home  of  a  Mr.  Boyn- 
ton  by  Messrs.  Davis  and  Adams,  the  devoted  shoe- 
maker Davis  who  brought  the  Sabbath  to  Cleveland, 


356  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

and  Dr.  Adams  who  became  a  medical  missionary 
in  South  Africa.  Two  brief  notes  state  that  "Mr. 
Rouse  visited  the  school  on  Sunday"  and  that  "Mr. 
Severance  attended  and  assisted  in  conducting  the 
school." 

The  rest  of  this  record  book  tabulates  the  statistics 
of  the  Stone  Church  school  from  1836  to  1840.  Each 
page  is  so  ruled  that  there  are  columns  for  attendance 
and  various  other  statistics,  the  last  column  on  each 
page  having  space  for  "remarks."  The  originator  of 
this  type  of  record  book  printed  on  the  first  page 
samples  for  the  guidance  of  the  secretary.  Those 
given  for  the  column  of  "remarks"  are  as  follows. 
The  first  of  course  was  "Pleasant  weather."  Then 
came, 

The  pastor  of  the  church  visited  the  school  and  ad- 
dressed the  scholars  on  the  duty  of  repentance. 

One  of  the  female  scholars  admitted  today  is  near 
seventy  years  of  age  and  can  only  read  a,  b. 

Lydia  Mullikin,  discharged  today,  has  been  in  the  school 
four  years  and  conducted  herself  very  well  the  last 
twelve  or  fifteen  months.  She  will  now  remove  to  the 
country,  as  we  trust  she  will  live  to  the  glory  of  God. 

Thomas  Wilson,  discharged  today,  is  a  bad  boy;  his 
parents  have  put  him  to  a  farmer  in  the  country. 

It  would  be  better  to  have  the  male  and  female  schools 
kept  in  separate  rooms,  and  we  hope  the  congregation 
will  build  a  school  house. 

The  high  quality  of  the  pioneer  Stone  Church  Sun- 
day School  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  super- 
intendents and  secretaries  did  not  pay  any  attention 
to  the  guiding  illustrations  given  by  the  copyright 


HELPERS  ALL  357 

owner,  with  the  exception  perhaps  of  the  ''weather" 
notations.  The  pioneer  weather  recorded  seems  to 
have  been  unfavorable  for  Sunday  School  attend- 
ance. During  the  greater  portion  of  one  year  the 
Stone  Church  and  the  Second  Presbyterian  Sunday 
Schools  united.  Elder  Truman  P.  Handy  was  super- 
intendent of  the  former  school  during  his  connection 
with  the  Stone  Church.  Periodic  Sunday  evening 
public  examinations  were  held  in  the  presence  of  the 
congregation.  At  one  of  these  tests  an  offering  was 
taken  amounting  to  sixty  dollars  for  the  purchase  of 
books  for  the  Sunday  School  library,  which  was  more 
valued  then  than  in  these  days  of  public  libraries. 

The  average  attendance  ran  from  one  hundred  to 
one  hundred  fifty,  and  the  number  of  male  often 
equalled  that  of  the  female  pupils  in  the  school. 
Deaths  of  teachers  and  scholars  were  faithfully  re- 
corded in  the  ''remarks"  column,  and  the  superin- 
tendent addressed  the  school  upon  the  sad  event.  The 
following  are  a  few  of  the  notations  made : 

September  2,  1838 -Mrs.  Isabella  Williamson  died 
during  the  past  week.  She  had  been  connected  with  this 
school,  either  as  a  scholar  or  a  teacher,  since  its  organi- 
zation. She  gave  pleasing  evidence  of  her  faith  in  Christ. 
September  30,  1838  -  Oms.  Blackman  died  the  past 
week  aged  fifteen.  Been  in  school  a  year.  Gave  evidence 
of  piety.    Scholars  addressed  on  the  subject. 

April  15,  1838 -Miss  Harriet  Brainerd's  dying  re- 
quest communicated  to  the  school,  "Tell  them  not  to 
put  off  preparation  for  death." 

Visitors  were  thus  recorded: 

September  11,  1838 -Mr.  H.  W.  Castle,  about  to  em- 


358  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

bark  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  formerly  a  teacher  in 
this  school,  addressed  the  scholars. 

July  21,  1839  -  Rev.  Mr.  Whiting  present  from  Pales- 
tine, addressed  the  school. 

October  13,  1839  -  School  addressed  by  Mr.  Walsworth, 
a  scholar  in  this  school  sixteen  years  ago,  now  preparing 
for  the  ministry. 

April  12,  1840  -  Weather  unpleasant.  E.  D.  Severance, 
for  several  years  a  teacher  in  this  school,  died  Saturday 
morning,  April  11th.  Funeral  to  be  attended  this  after- 
noon from  the  church,  scholars  following  in  the  pro- 
cession. He  gave  bright  and  cheering  evidence  of  his 
hope  in  Christ.  School  addressed  on  the  subject  by  the 
superintendent. 

That  the  communion  service  was  often  prolonged 
in  earlier  years  is  proven  by  this  notation: 

Communion  in  the  church  at  noon  prevented  the  exer- 
cises of  the  Sabbath  School. 

At  one  time  in  1840  Elder  John  A.  Foot  was  ap- 
pointed temporary  superintendent  during  the  absence 
of  Elder  T.  P.  Handy  on  account  of  ill  health.  On 
November  1,  1840,  there  is  this  interesting  note: 
"School  addressed  by  Lieutenant  Foot  of  the  U.  S. 
Navy."  This  was  afterwards  Admiral  Foot  of  Civil 
War  fame,  a  brother  of  the  Sunday  School  superin- 
tendent pro  tern.  Dr.  Delamater  was  in  charge  of  the 
school  on  May  13,  1840.  On  January  19,  1840,  the 
school  was  so  large  (one  hundred  seventy  present) 
that  the  session  had  to  be  held  in  the  church  audi- 
torium. 

Almost  every  Sunday  a  theological  theme  was  dis- 
cussed apart  from  the  regular  lesson,  such  as: 


HELPERS  ALL  359 

Do  the  Scriptures  teach  that  Christ  is  equal  with  the 
Father?  Is  a  change  of  heart  necessary  to  fit  us  for 
heaven?  Are  the  Scriptures  the  Word  of  God?  Is  God 
eternal  ?  How  great  is  the  power  of  God  ?  Is  God  change- 
able? 

That  the  missionary  spirit  was  diligently  cultivated 
these  records  show: 

January  6,  1839  -  Missionary  subject,  Ceylon.  School 
examined  on  this  station  and  very  satisfactory  answers 
given.  Collection  taken  for  the  purpose  of  educating  a 
heathen  boy  in  Ceylon,  to  bear  the  name  of  the  super- 
intendent [Mr.  Handy]. 

The  amount  of  the  offering  was  ten  dollars  and 
seventy  cents.  Ceylon  and  the  Sandwich  Islands 
were  frequently  considered  for  the  reason  that  former 
members  of  the  school  had  gone  as  missionaries  to 
those  fields.  Doubtless  in  later  years  this  was  true 
of  South  Africa,  to  which  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Adams  went. 
Each  Sunday  the  names  of  the  teachers  were  re- 
corded in  parallel  columns,  one  containing  those  of 
the  male  and  the  other  those  of  the  female  teachers. 
Thus  one  Sunday  the  lists  were: 

Males  -  Andrews  1,  Andrews  2,  Younglove,  Hewitt,  Foot, 
Welles,  Delamater,  Penfield,  Lathrop.  Females -Day, 
Ford,  Lathrop,  Andrews,  Hewitt,  Hitchcock,  Butler, 
Burritt. 

The  lists  changed  frequently,  but  these  are  noble 
examples  of  the  generations  of  lay  helpers  who  have 
served  in  succession  the  Bible  school  work  of  the 
Stone  Church.  After  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary 
celebration  of  1895,  the  book  published  under  the 


360  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

title  of  Stone  Church  Annals  contained  the  photo- 
graphs and  names  of  fourteen  superintendents  who 
had  served  to  that  date,  namely  Elisha  Taylor,  T.  P. 
Handy,  John  A.  Foot,  George  Mygatt,  F.  C.  Keith, 
R.  F.  Smith,  George  H.  Ely,  F.  M.  Backus,  H.  M. 
Flagler,  H.  N.  Raymond,  Reverend  H.  C.  Haydn,  Dr. 
C.  F.  Dutton,  E.  C.  Higbee,  and  C.  L.  Kimball.  A 
few  others  had  served,  such  as  William  Slade,  Jr.,  and 
Thomas  Maynard.  Mr.  C.  L.  Kimball  went  to  Chi- 
cago in  1899  and  was  succeeded  by  Elder  C.  Stewart 
Wanamaker,  who  was  superintendent  until  1905, 
when  Elder  S.  P.  Fenn,  long  connected  with  the  North 
Presbyterian  Sunday  School,  assumed  the  home 
school's  superintendency,  which  has  continued  until 
this  centennial  year.  Yes,  "helpers  all"  were  the  Sun- 
day School  officers  and  teachers  whose  names  cannot 
be  tabulated,  as  well  as  the  names  of  elders,  deacons, 
trustees  and  of  the  officers  of  the  many  organizations 
that  have  assisted  in  making  the  Stone  Church  the 
power  for  good  that  it  has  been. 

A  young  peoples'  society  existed  at  least  as  early 
as  the  beginning  of  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Goodrich, 
and  the  vigorous  Christian  Endeavor  Society  has 
flourished  for  twenty-eight  years.  Would  that  there 
were  time  to  gather  and  space  to  record  the  names 
of  the  officers  of  the  Ladies'  Society,  the  Sisters  in 
Charge,  the  Woman's  Missionary  Societies,  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant,  the  Goodrich  Society,  the 
Student  Volunteer  Fund,  the  Mothers'  Club,  the  Boy 
Scouts,  the  Intermediate  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety, the  Westminster  Guild,  the  Auxiliary  to  the 


HELPERS  ALL  361 

Woman's  Societies,  the  Syrian  Mission,  and  of  all  the 
Stone  Church  clubs  and  societies  that  have  existed 
for  the  wholesome  recreation  and  spiritual  instruction 
of  youth.  What  a  host  of  lay  workers,  who,  without 
compensation  other  than  that  of  the  joy  of  Christian 
service,  have  led  the  activities  of  the  Stone  Church! 
If  the  centennial  historian  could  not  find  time  to 
record  their  names  and  to  extol  their  deeds,  perhaps 
someone  coming  after  him  will  be  able  to  accomplish 
this. 

One  branch  of  the  Stone  Church  Sunday  School, 
however,  should  be  described,  namely  the  Chinese 
Department,  sustained  mainly  in  behalf  of  a  class  of 
men  isolated  not  only  from  their  country,  but  also 
from  those  among  whom  their  lot  has  been  cast.  The 
first  effort  to  reach  the  Chinese  of  Cleveland  was  from 
1877  to  1880,  when  Mr.  B.  F.  Shuart  gathered  a 
group  of  them  in  his  home  for  instruction.  A  Mr. 
Stewart  from  Oberlin  also  gave  assistance  in  this 
work.  It  was  not  brought  directly  under  church  con- 
trol until  the  pastorate  of  the  Reverend  Henry  W. 
Hulbert,  D.D.,  but  the  Stone  Church  had  been  freely 
used  for  the  school  prior  to  that  time. 

Even  in  the  case  of  Chinese  born  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  so  repressive  had  been  their  "Chinatown"  seg- 
regation that  they  were  often  no  better  versed  in 
English  than  their  fellows  from  China;  consequently 
the  first  thing  essential  in  helping  all  of  them  was 
the  teaching  of  English.  The  Stone  Church  Chinese 
Bible  School  has  usually  been  held  on  Sunday  after- 
noons from  two  until  four  o'clock,  and  for  many  years 


362  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  main  text-book  has  been  an  English-Chinese 
reader  pubhshed  by  the  American  Tract  Society,  with 
EngHsh  and  Chinese  reading  in  parallel  columns.  Effi- 
cient work  necessitates  a  teacher  for  each  pupil,  and 
the  task  is  very  difficult,  as  it  demands  much  self- 
sacrifice  and  patience  on  the  part  of  the  teachers. 
Little  progress  can  be  made  without  persevering 
effort  and  uniform  attendance  on  the  part  of  both 
pupils  and  instructors.  The  Misses  Marion  McD. 
and  Mary  F.  Trapp  have  been  for  over  thirty  years 
devoted  to  the  success  of  this  Chinese  work.  During 
their  long  term  of  service  the  local  Chinese  popula- 
tion has  increased  from  one  hundred  fifty  to  over  six 
hundred.  In  earlier  years  the  "boys"  as  the  pupils 
are  familiarly  termed  were  for  the  most  part  indus- 
trious laundrymen.  They  and  their  later  countrymen 
are  warm-hearted  and  generous  to  a  fault,  and  need 
very  little  instruction  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  fifth 
commandment.  Care  for  parents  in  China  is  never 
neglected.  Sons  do  not  wish  their  parents  to  labor 
after  fifty-five  and  sixty  years  of  age,  and  they  send 
financial  aid  not  only  to  parents,  but  also  to  poor 
relatives.  The  Chinese  pupils  are  very  fond  of  sing- 
ing in  connection  with  the  Sunday  afternoon  meet- 
ing, although  it  is  difficult  for  them  to  master  our 
melodies.  This  hard-working  class  of  men  depend 
upon  their  teachers  for  advice  in  many  matters  of 
business,  and  look  to  them  especially  when  they  are 
overtaken  by  any  kind  of  trouble,  such  as  illness  or 
petty  persecutions  to  which  they  are  often  subjected. 
Frequently  the  vigilance  of  government  officials  re- 


HELPERS  ALL  363 

garding  passports  and  the  general  provisions  of  the 
exclusion  act  cause  trouble,  to  the  hindering  of  the 
work  of  the  Chinese  Bible  School.  This  happened 
in  1907,  when  a  boy  was  deported,  and  again  in  1916, 
but  when  such  agitations  have  come,  the  school, 
although  smaller  in  numbers,  has  often  been  char- 
acterized by  more  steady  attendance. 

Naturally  there  was  a  great  awakening  among  the 
Cleveland  Chinese  when  China  in  1912  became  a  re- 
public. The  fact  that  Dr.  Sun  Yat  Sen,  the  first 
president  of  the  republic,  had  spoken  the  year  pre- 
vious in  the  Stone  Church,  gave  added  interest  to 
his  countrymen  in  Cleveland. 

In  1913  Chinese  children  began  to  become  a  factor 
in  the  life  of  the  Stone  Church,  and  one  baby  was 
baptized  "Samuel  Harvey  Meldrum  Shum."  China's 
policy  of  sending  a  more  educated  class  of  her  youth 
to  attend  American  colleges  and  universities  brought 
a  number  of  these  to  Case  School  and  Western  Re- 
serve University.  They  began  early  to  evince  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  their  less  favored  countrymen.  At 
first  the  latter  were  not  inclined  to  mingle  with  the 
better  educated,  but  since  the  war  the  social  chasm 
seems  to  have  been  bridged  and  at  present  there  is 
a  spirit  of  mutual  helpfulness. 

Dr.  Samuel  Chiu,  a  practicing  physician  of  eight 
years'  standing  in  China,  came  to  Cleveland  to  pur- 
sue a  postgraduate  course  in  medicine.  He  formed  a 
club  of  his  people  and  having  been  supported  by  the 
Episcopal  Church,  of  w  hich  he  is  a  member,  his  club 
naturally   met   in  Trinity  Church   for  the   Sunday 


364  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

afternoon  instruction,  thus  diminishing  somewhat 
the  attendance  at  the  Stone  Church.  This  proved, 
however,  that  in  respect  to  the  Chinese,  as  well  as 
to  all  other  classes,  the  Stone  Church  has  sent  out 
colonies,  for  this  Chinese  club  was  the  third  organi- 
zation of  the  kind  to  start  from  the  Stone  Church 
Chinese  Bible  School. 

Some  years  ago  a  group  of  Chinese  went  to  the 
Central  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building 
and  to  Plymouth  Congregational  Church.  After  that 
congregation  had  disbanded  the  pupils  gathered  for 
instruction  in  the  Sarah  Andrews  School.  A  Chinese 
class  had  also  been  formed  in  the  Franklin  Circle 
Disciple  Church,  but  the  Chinese  Bible  School  of  the 
Stone  Church  is  the  oldest  and  in  a  sense  the  parent 
of  the  other  schools. 

Recently  a  number  of  Chinese  funerals  have  been 
held  in  the  Stone  Church,  the  Reverend  Andrew  B. 
Meldrum,  D.D.,  conducting  a  Christian  service.  At 
times  there  has  been  the  additional  observance  of 
some  Chinese  ancient  burial  rites,  but  generally  the 
Christian  service  has  sufficed.  Some  of  the  members 
of  the  Chinese  Bible  School  have  united  with  the 
Stone  Church;  a  few  have  returned  to  China,  where 
they  have  been  useful  in  Christian  service,  even  to  the 
extent  of  building  churches.  With  the  majority  of 
the  "Chinese  boys"  the  task  of  the  teachers  is  that 
of  helping  them  without  immediate  enrollment  in  the 
Christian  church,  but  the  patient  continuance  of  the 
tireless  instructors  of  these  strangers  within  our  gates 


HELPERS  ALL  365 

must  ultimately  be  crowned  with  success  in  God's 
good  time. 

Not  only  has  generous  assistance  been  given  to 
home  missionary  work  throughout  the  land,  but 
the  Stone  Church  has  also  had  its  special  represen- 
tatives in  many  foreign  countries.  Eighty-seven 
years  ago  the  first  missionary  society  was  organized 
in  the  Stone  Church.  The  Reverend  and  Mrs.  Samuel 
Hutchings  went  to  Ceylon;  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Adams 
to  Natal,  Africa;  Mr.  Samuel  W.  Castle  to  the  Sand- 
wich Islands;  Mrs.  Parsons  and  her  husband  to  Ar- 
menia, where  the  latter  was  murdered,  and  the  two 
daughters  continued  the  life  purpose  of  their  parents 
at  Harpoot,  Turkey,  and  in  China.  More  than  sixty- 
five  years  ago  Mrs.  Birrill  went  to  India  from  the 
home  of  Mr.  Henry  Harvey  as  a  bride  equipped  by 
the  Stone  Church  Missionary  Society.  Her  two 
daughters  continued  the  work  in  India.  Miss  Sellers 
was  given  a  farewell  reception  and  outfit  in  1874  as 
she  was  leaving  for  China.  Miss  Dascomb  and  Miss 
Kuhl  represented  for  twenty  years  the  Stone  Church 
in  Brazil.  Miss  Fullerton  of  India  and  Miss  Belle 
Marsh  of  Japan  were  for  some  time  especially  re- 
garded by  the  Stone  Church  ladies.  Mrs.  Bessie 
Nelson  Eddy  and  Mrs.  Mary  Schauffler  Labaree  rep- 
resented the  Stone  Church  respectively  in  Syria  and 
Persia,  where  the  husband  of  the  latter  became  a 
martyr.  Miss  Hattie  Noyes  Kerr,  once  a  member  of 
the  Stone  Church,  labored  long  with  a  brother  and 
sister  in  China.  Mrs.  Annie  Johnson  Laughlin  spent 
three  years  in  China  before  she  passed  away.    The 


366  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

work  of  Miss  Fannie  Goodrich,  daughter  of  the  Rev- 
erend William  H.  Goodrich,  D.D.,  in  behalf  of  the 
Mountain  Whites  near  Asheville,  N.  C,  has  always 
enlisted  the  warm  interest  of  the  Stone  Church  in 
which  her  early  years  were  spent. 

About  1897  'The  Student  Volunteer  Fund"  was 
inaugurated  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  a  repre- 
sentative upon  a  foreign  field.  The  Reverend  Howard 
Fisher,  who  went  as  a  minister  and  physician  to 
Ambilla  City,  northern  India,  first  received  the  sup- 
port of  this  fund.  Then  successively  the  Reverend 
Waher  J.  Clark,  of  Umballa,  India;  J.  Rutter  Wil- 
liamson, M.D.,  and  Mrs.  Williamson,  of  Miraji,  West 
India  Mission,  were  sustained,  until  about  1909,  when 
Dr.  Robert  H.  H.  Goheen,  Vengurla,  West  India  Mis- 
sion, became  a  more  stated  representative.  The  salary 
of  Dr.  Goheen  is  met  by  the  Stone  Church  and  that 
of  Mrs.  Goheen,  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Ewing,  the  late 
veteran  missionary  to  India,  is  paid  by  the  Lacka- 
wanna Presbytery.  The  Vengurla  mission  is  in  a 
purely  Indian  community  of  seventeen  thousand  in- 
habitants, whose  deep  prejudice  against  all  Christians 
has  waned  before  this  medical  service  in  their  behalf. 
The  other  representative  of  the  Stone  Church  in  a 
foreign  field  is  Mrs.  Eli  Mowry,  of  Pyeng  Yang, 
Korea. 

Among  the  many  Stone  Church  helpers  those  who 
have  led  the  musical  part  of  divine  worship  should 
not  be  ignored.  There  is  historical  loss  in  the  omission 
of  the  names  of  organist  and  choir  members  from  the 
annual  manual  and  directory.  These  names  are  given 


HELPERS  ALL  367 

in  the  Weekly  Bulletins  which  have  not  been  pre- 
served as  carefully  as  the  series  of  year-books. 

From  the  days  when  Mr.  Tuttle  led  the  singing, 
assisted  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  P.  Handy,  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  first  building;  and  from  the  time  that 
Deacon  Hamlen  and  Mr.  DeWitt  "pitched  the  tunes" 
and  Mr.  Benjamin  Rouse  gave  inspiration  to  the 
service  of  song,  down  to  the  present  time,  the  Stone 
Church  has  been  spiritually  blessed  through  its  musi- 
cal services. 

Perhaps  the  first  reference  to  church  music  on  the 
trustees'  records  was  that  of  April  7,  1841 : 

Mr.  Knowlton  was  appointed  to  take  care  of  the  singing, 
^200  per  annum;  Edwin  Cowles  to  blow  the  organ  at 
$\1  per  year. 

The  trustees  set  aside  annually  a  maximum  sum  for 
music  and  appointed  a  small  committee  to  engage 
"an  Organist,  Chorister  and  blower,"  within  the  fixed 
allowance.  The  organist  and  chorister  w^re  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  have  their  titles  capitalized,  but 
the  office  of  "blower"  was  always  spelled  with  a  small 
"b."  Usually  he  was  a  lad  willing  to  earn  a  quarter 
once  a  week  and  perhaps  anxious  to  have  a  seat  in 
the  choir  gallery.  Edwin  Cowles,  the  "blower  of 
1841,"  became  the  founder  and  editor  of  the  Cleve- 
land Leader.  In  1855  Samuel  Gardner  was  the  pipe- 
organ's  motive  power;  while  the  last-named  manipu- 
lator of  the  bellows  was  Julius  Zipp,  whose  recom- 
pense had  risen  in  1876  to  fifty-two  dollars  per  annum. 
Mr.  S.  L.  Bingham  led  the  choir  from  1841  to  1845, 
and  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  H.  S.  Slossen,  Mr. 


368  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Novell,  and  Mr.  George  Dunham,  all  having  served 
prior  to  1860.  Then  appear  in  the  records  the  names 
of  individual  choir  members,  such  as  Miss  Segur,  who 
commenced  to  serve  in  1859.  Mr.  D.  B.  Chambers 
led  the  choir  in  1872  and  Mr.  Frank  B.  Stedman  took 
charge  in  1875.  The  distinct  quartet  choir  appears 
in  the  minutes  of  the  trustees  in  1876,  with  the  em- 
ployment of  Miss  Suggett,  afterwards  Mrs.  John  H. 
Ranney,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Rawson,  and  Mr.  Spindler,  **A11 
to  supply  their  places  when  absent,  including  the 
blower."  Miss  Dora  Henninges  succeeded  Miss  Sug- 
gett in  1880,  and  at  the  same  time  Mr.  Joseph  F. 
Isham  and  Mr.  George  Duckett  were  secured.  These 
three,  with  Mrs.  Rawson,  formed  a  quartet,  the  cost 
of  which  to  the  congregation  was  over  two  thousand 
dollars,  and  this  quartet  did  not  change  its  personnel 
for  nine  years.  Mr.  Isham  and  Mr.  Duckett  were 
tenor  and  second  bass  of  the  famous  Arion  Quartet, 
whose  other  two  members  were  Messrs.  Lang  and 
Jaster.  Miss  Rouse  took  the  place  of  Miss  Henninges 
for  a  year,  when  the  latter  returned  in  1884.  Later 
soprano  singers  were  Mrs.  Seabury  C.  Ford,  Miss 
Carrie  Louise  Beltz,  Miss  Agnes  Grant,  Miss  Sarah 
Lavin,  Miss  Blanche  Armstrong,  Miss  Anna  New- 
comb,  afterwards  Mrs.  Wanamaker,  who  served  for 
twenty-one  years.  Mrs.  Estelle  Chapin  Thomson  is 
the  present  soprano. 

Among  the  alto  singers  have  been  Mrs.  O.  A.  Trei- 
ber.  Miss  Lenora  Martin,  Miss  Jessie  Smith,  Miss 
Grace  Upham,  Miss  Sarah  Layton  Walker,  after- 


HELPERS  ALL  369 

wards  Mrs.  Black,  and  Miss  Lila  Robeson,  the  pres- 
ent member  of  the  choir. 

The  more  recent  tenors  have  been  Mr.  Henry  A. 
Preston,  Mr.  Newcomb  Cole,  Mr.  Samuel  Beddoe, 
and  Mr.  Edwin  Douglass,  who  retired  this  year  after 
a  service  of  twenty-one  years.  Mr.  J.  A.  Myers  is  his 
successor.  Some  of  the  bass  singers  since  the  day 
of  Mr.  George  Duckett  have  been  Mr.  William  Dut- 
ton,  Mr.  Walter  Howell,  who  died  toward  the  close 
of  thirteen  years  of  service,  Mr.  Gustave  Bernike, 
Mr.  Arthur  Hudson,  Mr.  Alfred  Burr,  and  Mr.  Fred 
S.  True,  the  present  choir  member. 

The  first  organist  named  in  the  records  was  a  Mr. 
Voss,  employed  in  1849.  Miss  Rockwell  presided  at 
the  organ  in  1852.  Mrs.  D.  B.  Wick  was  organist  in 
1872,  when  Mr.  D.  B.  Chambers  led  the  choir,  and 
the  trustees  gave  a  vote  of  thanks  to  both  for  their 
gratuitous  services.  In  1873  Mrs.  A.  Hills  presided 
at  the  organ,  and  after  her  Mrs.  S.  R.  Isaacs,  Mr. 
George  Brainard,  Mr.  F.  C.  Wade,  and  Mr.  Whitely 
served  until  the  commencement  of  the  remarkable 
leadership  of  Professor  W.  B.  Colson,  who  for  thirty 
years  has  been  the  efficient  organist  and  choirmaster. 
Much  credit  belongs  to  the  present  choir  leader  for 
the  excellence  of  the  Stone  Church  music,  and  many 
have  been  delighted  with  his  annual  twilight  organ 
recitals,  during  the  month  of  October. 

At  the  construction  of  the  church  edifice  in  1856 
an  organ  costing  three  thousand  three  hundred  dol- 
lars was  installed  by  Jardine  and  Sons,  of  New  York 
City.     This  instrument   destroyed   by  fire  was   re- 


370  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

placed  by  one  that  was  removed  in  1877  from  the 
rear  of  the  auditorium  to  the  northwest  corner  of 
the  room.  The  present  magnificent  organ  was  the 
gift  of  Mrs.  S.  V.  Harkness,  and  a  gold  plate  upon 
it  bears  this  inscription: 

In  Memory 

of  her  beloved  daughter 

Florence 

Sept.  20,  1863 -July  29,  1895. 

The  gift  of  Mrs.  Anna  M.  Harkness 

to  the  church  of  her  love. 

"Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds." 

At  the  time  of  the  ninetieth  anniversary  celebration 
in  1910  a  set  of  organ  chimes  was  presented  to  the 
church  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  S.  Tyler  and  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  S.  P.  Fenn.  Later,  in  1917,  through  the  gener- 
osity of  Elder  S.  P.  Fenn,  a  beautiful  harp  attach- 
ment was  added  to  the  organ;  while  in  memory  of 
Mrs.  Fenn  the  tower  chimes  were  installed. 

Very  few  know  of  two  series  of  lettering  on  the 
bell  that  hangs  in  the  tower.  On  one  side  there  are 
these  lines: 

Cast  for  the 

First  Presbyterian  Church, 

Cleveland,  Ohio. 

In  the  Year  of  Peace, 

1865. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  bell  are  the  lines: 

Samuel  C.  Aiken, 

Pastor  Emeritus. 

William  H.  Goodrich, 

Pastor. 


HELPERS  ALL  371 

One  more  line  of  helpers  must  not  be  forgotten. 
Although  mentioned  last  the  custodians  or  care- 
takers of  God's  house  are  not  the  least  of  His  faithful 
servants.  Reference  has  been  made  to  Deacon  Ham- 
len  trimming  the  candles  on  the  walls  of  the  sanctuary 
and  relighting  those  that  might  have  been  snuffed 
out,  by  the  touch  of  the  candle  from  the  lantern  on 
his  arm.  Mr.  J.  E.  James  was  appointed  sexton  in 
1841  and  was  paid  one  hundred  dollars  a  year  with 
the  use  of  a  lot.  This  custodian  evidently  owned  a 
house  that  stood  upon  church  property.  He  served 
until  1845,  when  having  passed  away  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  Chidgey.  From  the  James  estate  the 
trustees  purchased  the  house  and  the  new  janitor 
was  granted  the  use  of  house  and  lot  in  addition  to 
a  monetary  consideration. 

Then  commenced  in  1847  a  custodianship  which 
continued  thirty-five  years,  or  until  1882,  through 
fourteen  years  of  Dr.  Aiken's  pastorate,  all  of  Dr. 
Goodrich's  term  of  service  and  through  the  first 
settlement  of  Dr.  Haydn  into  one-half  of  Dr.  Mitch- 
ell's pastorate.  Of  the  fidelity  of  Mr.  John  Heard, 
Mrs.  H.  K.  Gushing,  in  her  paper  on  "The  Ladies' 
Society,"  read  at  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary,  said : 

In  these  days  of  modern  improvements,  in  churches  as 
in  homes,  it  is  not  easy  to  recall  the  emptiness  and  cheer- 
lessness  of  church  rooms,  or  the  disadvantage  at  which 
much  of  our  work  was  formerly  done.  In  this  connection 
we  are  reminded  of  the  sexton,  who  for  more  than  thirty 
years  served  this  church  and  its  societies  with  a  fidelity 
to  its  ministers  and  its  members  that  made  him  the  per- 


372  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

sonal  friend  of  all.  The  great  doors  which  for  so  many 
Sabbath  mornings  he  swung  back  were  to  him  the  very 
gateway  to  heaven,  and  the  church  was  to  him  a  temple 
and  its  humblest  duties  honored  him.  Faithful  John 
Heard!  We  write  your  name  within  our  book  as  one 
worthy  to  be  remembered. 

Mr.  John  Heard  and  his  sons  cared  not  only  for  the 
Stone  Church  property  but  also  for  the  old  Central 
High  School  and  the  Walnut  Street  Home.  The 
candles  of  Sexton  Hamlen  had  given  way  to  artificial 
gas,  whose  jets  were  set  ablaze  by  a  gasoline  torch 
at  the  end  of  a  long  bamboo  pole.  In  the  coldest 
spells  of  winter,  in  order  that  the  sanctuary  might 
be  comfortable  by  the  time  for  Sunday  morning  wor- 
ship, Mr.  Heard  slept  Saturday  nights  either  in  the 
pastor's  study  or  the  vestibule  of  the  church,  where 
there  was  a  stove.  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Cole,  a  daughter 
of  faithful  John  Heard,  for  fifty-eight  years  a  member 
of  the  Stone  Church,  passed  away  September  10, 1920. 
With  steam-heating  plants  and  up-to-date  equip- 
ment of  various  kinds  a  large  city  church  can  no 
longer  be  left  to  any  part-time  caretaker.  Fortu- 
nately the  Stone  Church  secured,  a  third  of  a  cen- 
tury ago,  Mr.  George  F.  Henderson,  then  in  the  very 
prime  of  life.  Born  in  Cleveland  a  little  over  sixty 
years  ago  he  has  given  the  best  part  of  his  days  to 
the  care  of  the  Stone  Church  property.  A  "gilder" 
by  trade  in  early  manhood,  he  has  gone  deeper  than 
mere  surface  brightening  of  the  things  committed  to 
his  trust.  The  thirty-three  years  of  service  have  been 
characterized  by  marked  fidelity.  The  late  Elder 
Livingston  Fewsmith,  who  was  in  a  position  to  see 


HELPERS  ALL  373 

the  daily  toil  of  Mr.  Henderson,  did  not  neglect  to 
bear  testimony  in  annual  reports  to  the  faithfulness 
of  this  church  custodian.  Thus  in  the  1912  year-book 
he  wrote : 

Mr.  Henderson  will  have  been  with  us  twenty-five  years 
next  month,  and  deserves  mention  for  his  faithful  and 
efficient  services  during  all  these  years. 

Again  in  another  report  he  recorded: 

Our  janitor  has  done  more  work  last  year  than  ever  be- 
fore, for  although  it  may  not  be  generally  known  the 
work  of  the  janitor  of  this  church  is  constantly  increas- 
ing. I  have  known  a  good  many  churches  and  the  kind 
of  janitors  they  have,  and  I  think  I  can  say  we  have 
the  best. 

Yes,  helpers  all  have  been  the  doorkeepers  of  God's 
house,  as  well  as  those  who  have  ministered  more 
directly  to  the  life  within  the  sanctuary. 

A  servant  with  this  clause 

Makes  drudgery  divine; 
Who  sweeps  a  room  as  for  Thy  laws 

Makes  that  and  th'  action  fine. 


XII.    PASTORATE  OF  THE   REVEREND 
ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM 

The  first  installed  pastor  of  the  Old  Stone  Church  ~ 
the  Reverend  Samuel  C.  Aiken,  D.D.,  was  a  Scotch- 
Irish-American  whose  line  of  ancestry,  extending 
from  Scotland  to  North  Ireland,  finally  reached  New 
England.  The  present  pastor,  the  Reverend  Andrew 
Barclay  Meldrum,  D.D.,  was  born  in  Scotland  and 
came  to  the  United  States  by  way  of  Canada,  where 
his  family  had  settled  when  he  was  about  fifteen 
years  of  age. 

The  author  waited  long  for  facts  concerning  Dr. 
Meldrum's  life  previous  to  his  Cleveland  pastorate, 
but  the  bringing  of  such  historical  items  to  light 
must  be  the  task  of  another  historian.  The  Stone 
Church  pastor  may  have  been  apprehensive  lest 
the  reader  think  that  the  historical  material  of  this 
last  chapter  had  been  supplied  by  the  one  whose  pas- 
torate is  here  delineated,  but  it  can  be  positively 
asserted  that  the  skeleton  and  data  of  the  closing 
period  of  the  existence  of  the  Stone  Church  were 
discovered  by  the  author  alone  during  the  last  few 
days  of  grace  allowed  by  the  publisher. 

It  is  fairly  certain,  however,  that  young  Meldrum 
while  pursuing  studies  at  Knox  College  in  Canada 


376  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

was  invited  about  1884  to  spend  a  summer's  vacation 
supplying  a  church  in  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

This  led  to  his  remaining  on  the  Pacific  coast  as 
an  assistant  pastor.  After  having  supplied  in  1885 
the  St.  John's  Presbyterian  Church  of  San  Francisco 
he  became  its  pastor  and  continued  in  that  capacity 
until  1887.  The  second  field  of  service  at  Rock  Island, 
111.,  extended  from  1888  to  1890.  From  1890  to  1896 
he  served  the  Grace  Presbyterian  Church  of  Evans- 
ville,  Ind.,  and  then  went  to  the  Central  Presbyterian 
Church,  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  where  he  remained  until 
called  in  1902  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Cleveland. 

The  transition  from  St.  Paul  to  Cleveland  was 
courteously  handled  by  the  oflficials  of  the  respective 
congregations,  the  one  losing  and  the  other  gaining 
a  highly  valued  pastor.  The  session  of  the  Central 
Church  of  St.  Paul  wrote  to  their  Cleveland  brethren : 

Owing  to  the  positive  and  irrevocable  tone  of  Dr.  Mel- 
drum's  letter  to  the  session,  and  believing  that  he  has 
thoroughly,  conscientiously,  and  finally  decided  what  was 
his  duty  in  the  matter,  the  session  felt  constrained  to 
concur  in  the  request.  We  would,  therefore,  submit  the 
following  resolutions,  which  but  faintly  express  what 
is  in  our  hearts  to  say; 

"Resolved,  that  we,  the  congregation  of  the  Central 
Presbyterian  Church,  of  the  City  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota, 
in  consenting  to  the  dissolution  of  the  pastoral  relation  of 
our  church  with  the  Reverend  Andrew  B.  Meldrum,  D.D., 
who  has  been  our  pastor  since  December,  1895,  do  so  with 
the  deepest  regret  and  sorrow,  and  only  because  he  has 
been  called  to  a  field  that  he  conscientiously  feels  needs 
his  services  more  than  we  do.  His  relations  have  been 
and  now  are  the  most  cordial  with  every  member  of  the 


Andri:\v  H.  Mi;i.drl'M 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  379 

congregation,  and  in  his  leaving  us  everyone  feels  a  per- 
sonal loss.  His  courage,  ability,  tact,  and  talent  as  a 
preacher,  pastor  and  man,  need  no  comments  beyond  the 
recital  of  the  facts.  He  came  to  us  from  a  prosperous, 
appreciative  church  in  Evansville,  Indiana,  when  we  were 
in  debt  over  sixty  thousand  dollars  and  had  a  congre- 
gation that  did  not  half  fill  our  large  auditorium.  He 
leaves  us  with  that  debt  practically  paid  and  with  over- 
flowing audiences  attracted  by  plain,  earnest,  and  elo- 
quent presentation  of  the  simple  gospel  truth.  Hundreds 
have  united  with  the  church  under  this  preaching,  and 
it  is  within  bounds  to  say  that  thousands  have  been 
benefited." 

The  Stone  Church  Session  answered  the  greetings 
of  the  St.  Paul  brethren: 

The  session  and  people  of  this  church  most  gratefully  ac- 
knowledge the  friendship  and  brotherly  love  which  char- 
acterize the  communication  now  received  from  the  breth- 
ren of  our  sister  church.  The  kind,  Christian  spirit  mani- 
fested throughout  the  trying  ordeal  is  highly  appreciated. 
We  sought  your  pastor,  brethren,  not  that  we  loved  you 
less,  or  selfishly  desired  to  deprive  you  of  his  labors  which 
have  so  abounded  among  you  to  the  advancement  of  the 
kingdom,  but  because  we  loved  the  kingdom  more.  God 
in  his  providence  seemed  to  us  by  these  very  labors  to 
point  clearly  to  him  as  the  choice  for  the  leadership  in  the 
peculiar  and  difficult  work  of  our  church  in  this  "down- 
town" field,  and  we  feel  that  Dr.  Meldrum  has  been 
moved  by  a  like  spirit  in  his  decision  to  undertake  this 
arduous  work;  has  heard  another  call  than  ours,  impelling 
him  and  his  to  sever  the  ties  and  to  leave  the  scenes 
which  are  dear  to  his  heart,  surely,  where  he  has  won  so 
great  a  success  in  the  name  of  our  common  Master.  Pray 
for  him,  brethren,  and  for  us  that  his  success  may  be 
even  greater  here.  We  invoke  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
your  church  and  upon  the  pastor  who  may  be  given  to 
you,  that  you  may  prosper  in  the  future  as  in  the  past 
and  abound  in  the  work  of  the  Lord  more  and  more. 


380  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

This  brotherly  spirit  characterizing  the  change  of' 
Dr.  Meldrum's  ministerial  labors  from  St.  Paul  to 
Cleveland  was  a  splendid  harbinger  of  the  successful 
pastorate  that  has  continued  in  the  latter  city  for 
eighteen  years.  Cleveland  in  1900  contained  three 
hundred  eighty-four  thousand,  one  hundred  eleven 
inhabitants;  in  1910  five  hundred  sixty  thousand,  six 
hundred  sixty-three.  The  1920  census  recently  an- 
nounced a  population  of  seven  hundred  ninety-six 
thousand,  eight  hundred  thirty-six  citizens.  Without 
including  the  rapidly  growing  suburbs  of  Lakewood, 
East  Cleveland,  and  the  Heights  Hamlets,  which  are 
extensions  of  Cleveland,  the  parent  city  has  more 
than  doubled  in  population  during  Dr.  Meldrum's 
pastorate. 

The  outlook  for  the  Stone  Church  when  he  came  in 
1902  was  that  of  "holding  its  own."  Almost  every 
down-town  church  had  moved  eastward  or  was  ap- 
proaching that  inevitable  change;  the  First  Baptist 
to  Prospect  Avenue  and  East  Forty-sixth  Street; 
Trinity  Episcopal  to  Euclid  Avenue  and  East 
Twenty-second  Street;  the  First  M.  E.  Church 
to  Euclid  Avenue,  corner  of  East  Thirtieth  Street. 
Plymouth  Congregational  Church  has  disbanded. 
The  Euclid  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  formerly 
at  the  corner  of  East  Fourteenth  Street,  is  now 
located  near  the  University  Circle.  The  Second  Pres- 
byterian Church  on  Prospect  Avenue  and  East  Thir- 
tieth Street  contemplates  removal.  This  leaves  the 
Euclid  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  fully  a  mile  away,  the 
only  Protestant  neighbor  of  the  Stone  Church.   Even 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  381 

the  St.  John's  Cathedral  (Roman  Cathohc)  has  de- 
cided to  move  to  University  Circle. 

Many  Stone  Church  families  residing  at  a  distance 
from  the  Public  Square  naturally  furnished  very  few 
children  for  the  Sunday  School,  as  they  usually  attend 
schools  near  their  homes,  even  when  the  parents  re- 
tain membership  in  churches  at  a  distance.  Thus  the 
down-town  Sunday  School  was  destined  to  exist 
mainly  for  the  children  of  the  congested  district,  the 
majority  of  whose  parents  had  no  church  affiliation; 
while  the  church  itself  must  minister  in  increasing 
degree  to  a  floating  constituency. 

The  "grim  reaper"  was  also  certain  to  continue  his 
ingathering  of  the  vanguard  of  the  Stone  Church 
membership,  splendid  men  and  women  who  had  been 
for  years  connected  with  the  church  endeared  to  them 
by  many  historic  and  traditional  ties.  To  be  called 
upon  frequently  to  part  with  members  upon  whom 
the  congregation  had  confidently  depended,  was  not 
a  heartening  experience  for  the  new  pastor;  still  the 
Stone  Church  lives  and  works  with  a  vigor  productive 
of  far  better  results  than  those  of  a  congregation 
merely  "holding  its  own."  Faithful  members  fore- 
seeing the  inevitable  end  of  their  labor  of  love  on 
earth  bequeathed  endowment  funds  through  which 
"their  works  do  follow  them."  The  endowments,  now 
amounting  to  about  two  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
help  to  keep  the  Stone  Church  upon  its  original  site, 
but  there  has  been  no  disposition  to  lean  upon  such 
an  assured  income  without  the  present  generation 


382  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

contributing  its  financial  strength  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  work. 

When  death  has  taken  those  whose  personal  service 
and  financial  support  have  alike  been  extra  generous, 
the  question  has  frequently  arisen,  "How  can  we 
long  continue  the  work  with  such  inroads  upon  our 
membership?"  Yet  from  unseen  sources  has  often 
come  assistance  equivalent  to  the  losses  borne.  Won- 
derful replenishments  have  succored  the  church  that 
for  one  hundred  years  has  existed  for  others. 

At  the  beginning  of  Dr.  Meldrum's  pastorate  in 
1902  the  officers  of  the  Church  Society  were  Judge 
Samuel  E.  Williamson,  president;  trustees:  Martyn 
Bonnell,  W.  S.  Tyler,  Joseph  Colwell,  W.  E.  Gush- 
ing, and  Peter  M.  Hitchcock.  F.  C.  Keith  was 
treasurer,  and  S.  A.  Raymond  secretary.  In  this  cen- 
tennial year  only  one  of  that  board  of  trustees,  Mr. 
Martyn  Bonnell,  remains,  and  he  has  served  the 
church  in  that  capacity  over  twenty-five  years. 

The  session  consisted  of  Reuben  F.  Smith,  Francis 
C.  Keith,  William  P.  Stanton,  T.  S.  Lindsey,  Sereno 
P.  Fenn,  Joseph  Colwell,  Henry  N.  Raymond,  Charles 
L.  Kimball,  John  A.  Foote,  Jr.,  John  S.  Jennings,  Lu- 
cien  B.  Hall,  Samuel  A.  Raymond,  James  N.  Fleming, 
George  F.  Boehringer,  C.  Stewart  Wanamaker.  Of 
the  sixteen  elders  then  in  office,  but  four  remain  in 
service,  namely  Elders  Sereno  P.  Fenn,  Lucien  B. 
Hall,  George  F.  Boehringer,  and  James  N.  Fleming. 
Elder  Charles  L.  Kimball  resides  in  Chicago,  but 
death  has  claimed  the  rest.  The  service  of  Elder 
Sereno  P.  Fenn  as  a  member  of  the  Stone  Church 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  383 

Session  has  extended  over  thirty-eight  years;  while 
Elder  Lucien  B.  Hall  comes  next  with  a  service  of 
twenty-six  years. 

The  Board  of  Deacons  consisted  of  A.  B.  Marshall, 
Thomas  A.  Torrance,  Philip  A.  Ryder,  Charles 
Shackleton,  Clifford  C.  Smith,  Edward  M.  Williams, 
Dr.  H.  B.  Ormsby,  Warner  W.  Elliott,  James  H. 
Burris,  Thomas  A.  Munro,  Charles  W.  Messer,  and 
Tracy  C.  Williams.  Of  the  above  list  only  Edward 
M.  Williams  remains  a  deacon,  but  six  former  dea- 
cons, namely  A.  B.  Marshall,  Thomas  A.  Munro, 
Philip  A.  Ryder,  Thomas  A.  Torrance,  James  H.  Bur- 
ris, and  Dr.  H.  B.  Ormsby  have  become  elders. 

The  Sisters  in  Charge  were  Miss  Elizabeth  Blair, 
Mrs.  T.  H.  Cahoon,  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Bainbridge,  Mrs. 
L.  B.  Hall,  Miss  Cornelia  R.  Andrews,  Mrs.  S.  S. 
Gardner,  Mrs.  R.  F.  Smith,  Mrs.  H.  N.  Raymond, 
Mrs.  F.  C.  Keith,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Nicola,  Miss  Agnes  B. 
Foote.  Of  these  eleven  Sisters  in  Charge  only  Mrs. 
S.  S.  Gardner  and  Mrs.  C.  A.  Nicola  now  serve. 

This  shows  how  swift  the  official  changes  have 
been  during  the  last  eighteen  years.  What  a  noble 
line  of  older  men  and  women  such  as  St.  Paul  would 
not  hesitate  to  call  saints  on  earth  have  entered  into 
life  eternal  during  the  present  pastorate.  The  great 
majority  of  these  were  descendants  of  pioneer  mem- 
bers, the  type  of  whose  character  can  never  be  re- 
produced. 

Perseverance  in  the  heart  of  a  teeming  city,  in  the 
face  of  the  loss  of  such  tried  and  true  members,  many 
of  them  elders,   trustees,   deacons,   and   officials  in 


384  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

various  organizations,  demanded  Christian  courage 
and  faith.  This  era  of  endurance,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  "Scotch  Grit,"  was  inaugurated,  however,  by 
another  church  expansion  movement  which  has  re- 
sulted in  the  establishment  of  one  of  the  strongest 
congregations  in  the  Cleveland  Presbytery.  True, 
the  locality  in  which  the  Lakewood  Hamlet  Mission 
was  planted  has  become  one  of  the  most  popular 
residential  suburbs  in  which  large  churches  have 
swiftly  developed,  but  when  the  Stone  Church  as- 
sumed control  of  the  mission  from  which  the  Lake- 
wood  Presbyterian  Church  of  a  thousand  members 
has  grown  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  the  proposition 
was  very  similar  to  the  founding  in  earlier  years  of 
Windermere  and  Glenville  Chapels. 

Thus  it  was  that  nineteen  persons,  representing  ten 
families,  banded  together  to  form  a  Presbyterian 
church.  The  Stone  Church  immediately  responded 
to  the  needs  of  the  new  enterprise,  as  these  records 
show: 

January  25,  1905  -  Dr.  Meldrum  and  Elders  Lucien  B. 
Hall  and  Samuel  A.  Raymond  appointed  to  act  in  the 
case  of  a  Lakewood  Hamlet  church.  Three  hundred  dol- 
lars to  be  raised  to  assist  in  organizing. 

February  13,  1905  -  Committee  of  three  to  attend  a 
special  meeting  in  Lakewood  to  consider  steps  to  be 
taken  looking  to  the  organization  of  that  body  of  be- 
lievers and  their  desired  connection  with  this  church. 

March  3,  1905  -  Voted  that  the  moderator  appoint  two 
or  more  members  of  the  session  to  attend  with  him  a 
meeting  of  the  Lakewood  congregation  for  the  purpose 
of  receiving  into  membership  of  the  Lakewood   Branch 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  385 

of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  a  num- 
ber who  have  signified  their  intention  to  become  such. 

March  10,  1905  -  A  preparatory  service  was  held  by 
this  committee  and  sixteen  received  by  the  session.  The 
Sunday  afternoon  following  Dr.  Meldrum,  accompanied 
by  Elders  R.  F.  Smith,  L.  B.  Hall,  S.  A.  Raymond,  T.  S. 
Munro,  Alfred  Eyears,  and  George  Boehringer,  conducted 
a  communion  service  and  welcomed  nineteen  into  fellow- 
ship with  the  parent  church. 

Of  the  persons  received  only  four  had  been  Pres- 
byterians. Six  were  Congregationalists,  two  Meth- 
odists, three  United  Presbyterians,  and  three  Dis- 
ciples, showing  the  mixed  denominational  character 
of  city  missions.    There  was  appointed  at  once  a 

Standing  Committee  on  the  Lakewood  Branch  whose  duty 
shall  be  to  cooperate  with  that  body  and  perfect  such  a 
system  as  will  facilitate  our  dealings  and  keep  us  in  har- 
monious and  healthful  trust  with  each  other  financially 
and  spiritually. 

On  March  31,  1905,  the  Reverend  Alfred  J.  Wright 
was  called  by  the  Stone  Church  as  assistant  pastor 
in  charge  of  the  Lakewood  Branch. 

A  partially  unfinished  residence  was  rented  for  three 
years  as  a  meeting-place,  but  within  a  year  this  had 
been  outgrown  and  the  work  moved  to  Miller's  Hall, 
which  became  at  once  a  beehive  of  activity,  not  only 
developing  organizations  such  as  the  Sunday  School, 
Christian  Endeavor  Society,  and  Woman's  Mission- 
ary Society,  but  also  a  Men's  Club,  Ladies'  Guild, 
Girls'  Club,  Women's  Prayer  Meeting,  and  Boys' 
Club.  The  chapel,  located  on  Mario  Avenue, 
near  Detroit  Avenue,  with  its  addition,  cost  about 


386  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  first  part  was  dedi- 
cated on  January  5,  1903;  the  addition  on  April  6, 
1913.  At  the  end  of  the  fifth  year  the  mission  em- 
braced two  hundred  twenty-one  members,  with  one 
hundred  twenty-five  families.  The  Sunday  School 
had  gained  an  average  attendance  of  two  hundred 
nine,  and  six  elders  associated  with  the  Stone  Church 
Session  cared  directly  for  the  Lakewood  Branch. 

By  the  year  1912  the  Stone  Church,  including  the 
Lakewood  Branch,  consisted  of  eleven  hundred 
eighty-four  members,  but  of  this  number  three  hun- 
dred forty-two  were  dismissed  April  24,  1912,  to  form 
the  Lakewood  Presbyterian  Church.  Its  present  site, 
which  cost  about  three  thousand,  is  now  worth  ten 
thousand  dollars.  The  church  edifice,  dedicated 
April  28,  1918,  and  costing  eighty-seven  thousand 
dollars,  could  not  be  duplicated  at  present  for  less 
than  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  Lakewood 
Presbyterian  Church  and  Sunday  School  each  num- 
bers about  one  thousand  members.  The  Reverend 
Alfred  J.  Wright,  who  assumed  charge  of  the  small 
Sunday  School  fifteen  years  ago,  has  remained  in  this 
prosperous  pastorate,  having  been  installed  May  29, 
1912.  The  Moderator  of  Presbytery,  the  Reverend 
James  D.  Williamson,  D.D.,  presided;  the  Reverend 
Thomas  S.  McWilliams,  D.D.,  delivered  the  sermon; 
the  Reverend  Andrew  B.  Meldrum,  D.D.,  charged 
the  pastor;  while  Elder  Livingston  Fewsmith  gave 
the  charge  to  the  people. 

The  Lakewood  Presbyterian  Church  proves  the 
remarkable  power  of  the  Stone  Church  to  "bear  fruit 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  387 

in  old  age,"  when  it  might  have  turned  from  exten- 
sion plans  to  husband  all  resources  wherewith  to  meet 
the  increasing  down-town  problems.  Already  the 
Lakewood  Presbyterian  Church  is  cultivating  the 
spirit  of  its  mother.  Grace  Chapel,  which  was  con- 
structed by  the  Presbyterian  Union  a  few  years  ago, 
was  given  to  the  fostering  care  of  the  Lakewood 
Presbyterian  Church.  The  work  has  prospered  to 
such  an  extent  that  on  Sunday,  October  3,  1920,  the 
Grace  Presbyterian  Church  was  formed.  The  Rev- 
erend Lee  H.  Richardson  has  been  in  charge  of  this 
new  enterprise. 

The  growing  cosmopolitan  character  of  the  Stone 
Church  is  emphasized  by  such  names  upon  its  roll 
as  George  Assad,  Woo  Let,  Maryem  and  Farceedy 
Maalouf,  Halvin  Najeb,  Michael  Nassif,  Assas  Said, 
Nahli  and  Naseef  Salim,  Foo  Lock,  Wong  King,  Car- 
los Gomez,  Alfonzo  Espinosa,  and  others  who,  far 
from  their  homelands,  have  found  Christian  fellow- 
ship in  this  Cleveland  congregation. 

Mention  must  be  made  of  a  few  who  have  passed 
away  during  Dr.  Meldrum's  pastorate,  illustrative 
of  the  sterling  character  of  those  who  form  the  roll 
of  honor. 

In  January  of  1906  the  Stone  Church  Session 
passed  resolutions  relating  to  the  death  of  Elder  Ed- 
win C.  Higbee,  although  for  nine  years  his  member- 
ship had  been  in  Calvary  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
had  come  to  the  Stone  Church  from  Plymouth  Con- 
gregational Church  in  1874;  a  year  later  he  was  elect- 
ed an  elder  and  remained  for  twenty-three  years  a 


388  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

most  efficient  worker.  He  was  one  of  Cleveland's 
most  prominent  merchants,  a  partner  of  the  Hower 
and  Higbee  Company,  of  lower  Superior  Avenue,  and 
founder  of  the  present  Higbee  Company  on  Euclid 
Avenue.  Mrs.  E.  C.  Higbee,  who  is  living,  has  been 
a  prominent  member  of  the  women's  societies  and  at 
the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  in  1895  she  read  a  paper 
dealing  with  the  foreign  missionary  work  of  the  Stone 
Church. 

In  the  case  of  the  death  of  Judge  Samuel  E.  Wil- 
liamson, on  February  21,  1903,  the  Stone  Church 
suffered  a  great  loss,  although  professional  service  as 
counsel  for  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  had 
already  necessitated  his  residence  in  New  York  City. 
A  worthy  representative  of  the  third  generation  of 
the  pioneer  Williamson  family,  a  graduate  of  Western 
Reserve  College  in  1864,  and  of  Harvard  Law  School, 
he  became  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court,  but 
during  the  greater  part  of  his  professional  career  he 
was  counsel  for  railway  systems.  A  man  of  reserved 
temperament,  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  most 
eminent  lawyers  of  his  time  and  proved  a  tower  of 
strength  both  to  Western  Reserve  University  and 
the  Stone  Church.  He  gave  valuable  assistance  in 
the  establishing  of  his  alma  mater  in  Cleveland, 
and  at  the  time  of  the  second  fire  in  1884  he  was  the 
strongest  advocate  of  rebuilding,  upon  its  historic 
site,  the  church  in  which  three  generations  of  his 
family  had  worshiped. 

In  connection  with  the  loss  of  Judge  Williamson 
one  naturally  thinks  of  a  legal  associate,  Mr.  William 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  389 

E.  Gushing,  who  passed  away  in  1918.  He  also 
had  graduated  from  Western  Reserve  College  and 
from  Harvard  Law  School,  and  represented  the  third 
generation  of  a  Stone  Church  family.  Dr.  H.  Kirke 
Gushing  having  been  his  father  and  Dr.  Erastus 
Gushing  his  grandfather.  In  his  quiet,  unobtrusive 
manner  he  served  as  a  trustee  the  church  in  which 
his  whole  life  had  been  nurtured,  and  remembered 
generously  the  old  church  home  in  his  will. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Joseph  Colwell  on  December  7, 
1908,  was  a  great  loss  to  the  Stone  Church,  with 
which  he  had  been  connected  since  1858,  a  period 
of  fifty  years.  Engaged  in  the  banking  business,  he 
was  held  in  high  esteem  in  the  city,  and  in  the  church 
he  had  been  not  only  an  elder,  but  at  the  time  of 
his  passing  away  he  was  also  president  of  the  board 
of  trustees. 

The  death  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reuben  F.  Smith 
brought  to  a  close  lives  long  associated  with  the 
Stone  Church.  In  the  Cleveland  Presbytery,  the 
Synod  of  Ohio  and  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  Elder  Reuben  F.  Smith  was 
also  well  known.  In  1836  his  father,  Mr.  Edwin 
Smith,  left  Windham,  Conn.,  for  Ohio,  and  after  a 
brief  residence  at  Newark  he  came  to  Cleveland  in 
1840  and  at  once  united  with  the  Stone  Church.  The 
son,  Reuben  Fairbanks,  became  a  Sunday  School 
pupil  at  ten  years  of  age.  He  entered  the  railroad 
business  and  finally  became  president  of  the  Cleve- 
land and  Pittsburgh  Railroad.  A  trained  executive 
and  financier,  he  sought  to  develop  in  the  church 


390  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  spirit  of  systematic  financial  support  and  of  be- 
neficence. For  forty-three  years  he  served  the  Stone 
Church  as  an  elder,  and  so  faithful  was  he  that  a 
meeting  of  the  Cleveland  Presbytery  or  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Union  did  not  seem  natural  without  his  pres- 
ence. If  there  is  any  place  where  elders  of  large 
business  capacity  are  needed  it  is  in  the  meetings  of 
the  courts  of  the  church,  and  the  records  made  by 
such  elders  as  Reuben  F.  Smith,  Edwin  R.  Perkins, 
Edwin  C.  Higbee,  Louis  H.  and  Solon  L.  Severance, 
John  Buchan,  F.  M.  Sanderson,  John  Grant,  S.  P. 
Fenn,  Charles  W.  Chase,  W.  H.  Quinby,  and  other 
busy  business  men  in  their  attendance  upon  meet- 
ings of  Presbytery,  are  worthy  of  emulation  today.  In 
later  years  the  older  members  of  Cleveland  Presby- 
tery recall  with  gratitude  the  time  when  such  elders 
mingled  with  their  brethren  in  the  regular  courts  of 
the  church.  It  is  the  personal  touch  that  always 
carries  the  most  potent  influence.  The  only  member 
of  Elder  Reuben  F.  Smith's  family  still  connected 
with  the  Stone  Church  is  his  daughter.  Miss  Carrie 
B.  Smith,  who  is  most  active  in  many  lines  of  church 
work. 

The  Stone  Church  was  strengthened  for  many 
years  through  the  membership  of  two  brothers  who 
have  passed  away  during  the  present  pastorate. 
Samuel  Raymond,  born  in  Bethlehem,  Conn.,  settled 
in  Cleveland  in  1835,  where  he,  establishing  the  firm 
of  Clark,  Raymond  and  Clark,  engaged  first  in  the 
retail  and  then  the  wholesale  dry-goods  business. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Raymond  became  members  of 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  391 

the  Stone  Church.  In  1866  they  started  to  visit 
Havana,  Cuba,  by  way  of  the  Mississippi  River  to 
New  Orleans,  and  in  a  steamboat  explosion  Mr.  Ray- 
mond lost  his  life,  but  the  wife  was  rescued.  The 
two  sons,  Henry  N.  and  Samuel  A.  Raymond,  were 
nurtured  in  the  Stone  Church  and  both  of  them 
served  many  years  in  different  capacities.  The  old 
Raymond  homestead  was  on  Superior  Avenue  on  the 
site  of  the  Leader-News  Building.  The  brothers 
served  as  elders  in  the  church  for  many  years. 
Henry  N.  Raymond  was  in  later  life  connected  with 
the  Associated  Charities;  while  Samuel  A.  Raymond 
was  clerk  of  the  session  and  secretary  of  the  board  of 
trustees.  The  latter  united  with  the  church  in  1864, 
when  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  thus  had  been  a 
member  fifty  years.  Elected  a  deacon  in  1886,  he 
became  an  elder  in  1899.  For  many  years  he  was 
one  of  the  most  faithful  teachers  in  the  Sunday 
School.  He  is  survived  by  the  widow,  a  member 
of  the  Centennial  Committee,  and  by  six  children. 
In  the  year-book  for  1916  there  is  a  picture  of  the 
fine  memorial  window  presented  to  the  Stone  Church 
in  memory  of  Elder  Samuel  A.  Raymond.  Of  this 
gift  Elder  Livingston  Fewsmith  wrote: 

The  beauty  and  richness  of  our  church  has  been  enhanced 
by  the  new  memorial  window  erected  by  his  family  in 
memory  of  Elder  S.  A.  Raymond.  It  is  "a  thing  of 
beauty"  and  will  be  a  "joy  for  ever."  As  a  work  of  art  it 
is  perfect.  The  theme,  "Beside  the  Still  Waters,"  speaks 
the  inmost  thought  of  our  dear  friend  to  whose  memory 
it  is  dedicated,  and  calms  and  quiets  our  hearts  as  we 
gaze  upon  it.    It  is  a  very  gracious  act  thus  to  embellish 


392  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

our  church  and  the  three  memorial  windows  we  now 
have  will  always  be  an  inspiration  to  us  and  of  those 
who  come  after  us. 

At  the  same  time  there  was  this  note: 

Another  beautiful  act  has  been  the  presentation  of  the 
new  Bibles  which  lie  upon  the  pulpit  and  desk  in  memory 
of  Mrs.  Lucien  B.  Hall,  so  long  admired  and  beloved 
as  our  loyal  fellow  member. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  Flora  Stone  Mather,  January 
19,  1909,  came  with  a  pecuHar  shock  and  a  deep  sense 
of  loss  to  the  church  in  which  her  whole  life  had  been 
spent  and  for  which  from  earliest  years  she  manifested 
such  a  wealth  of  personal  devotion  as  well  as  financial 
generosity.  At  the  time  of  her  departure  Miss  Harriet 
A.  Hurlbut  paid  this  tribute: 

Mrs.  Mather,  it  is  needless  to  say,  filled  a  unique  place 
in  this  church  and  city.  She  was  fortunate  in  possessing 
rare  qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  With  her  great  quiet- 
ness and  gentleness  of  disposition  and  a  deeply  religious 
nature,  was  combined  a  quick,  decisive  judgment  and 
great  practical  common  sense.  Anyone  who  has  ever 
worked  with  her  could  not  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the 
readiness  with  which  she  solved  perplexing  questions 
and  the  wisdom  and  value  of  her  suggestions.  She  came 
into  the  Stone  Church  in  early  girlhood  and  pursued  a 
steady,  consistent  course  to  the  end.  The  keynote  of  her 
life  and  character  was  that  in  all  her  abundant  giving 
she  gave  herself  freely,  fully,  gladly.  In  the  many 
branches  of  the  charitable  work  of  this  church,  she  was 
not  only  ready  but  eager  to  do  her  part;  and  none  of 
us  will  ever  forget  how  her  face  would  light  up  with  the 
glad  smile  of  ready  response  to  the  call  for  aid  and  sym- 
pathy.   It  was  so  in  our  Ladies'  Society  and  in  the  Mis- 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  393 

sionary  Society,  of  which  she  was  the  inspiration;  indeed, 
as  one  expressed  it,  she  was  the  Missionary  Society,  and 
I  think  in  all  her  varied  interest  there  was  no  cause  dearer 
to  her  heart  than  the  great  work  whose  field  is  the  world. 
Her  busy,  active  life  here  is  ended,  but  we  are  sure  that 
somewhere  in  God's  great  kingdom  she  is  still  doing  His 
work.  She  has  seen  the  light  that  never  was  on  land  or 
sea  and  is  satisfied. 

The  golden  evening  brightens  in  the  west. 
Soon,  soon  to  faithful  ones  there  cometh  rest; 
Sweet  is  the  calm  of  paradise  to  the  blest. 

To  her  if  to  anyone  it  belongs  to  be  numbered 

With  the  saints  who  from  their  labors  rest. 

Another  member  to  be  greatly  missed  was  Mrs. 
Sereno  P.  Fenn,  who  passed  away  on  January  12, 
1917.  At  the  time  of  her  death  she  was  president  of 
the  Ladies'  Society.  Of  her  the  recording  secretary 
of  that  organization  wrote : 

Many  daughters  of  the  Stone  Church  have  done  valiantly, 
but  it  seems  to  be  the  choice  of  this  gentle  little  woman 
to  make  the  Stone  Church,  after  the  claims  of  the  home 
were  met,  the  repository  of  her  interest  and  help,  her 
strength  and  time.  She  did  large  things,  but  little  deeds 
that  give  pleasure  to  others  were  never  left  undone;  her 
capacious  motor  was  always  at  the  service  of  her  friends, 
and  in  her  long  trips  of  rest  or  recreation  she  never  forgot 
to  write  to  her  "Dear  Ladies'  Society"  of  the  sights  she 
was  enjoying.  Bending  over  her  vacant  chair  on  the 
morning  of  January  24,  in  the  room  where  the  Ladies' 
Society  was  accustomed  to  meet,  were  tall  American 
Beauty  roses.  They  were  sent  by  Mr.  S,  P.  Fenn  and 
Mrs.  J.  L.  Severance,  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Fenn.  The 
sight  of  the  roses  awoke  in  us  a  sense  of  our  loss,  but  as 
we  sensed   their  perfume  we  were  greatly  reminded   of 


394  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  all-pervading  loveliness  of  her  Christlike  spirit,  which 
had  been  to  us  an  unfailing  inspiration.  Mrs.  Fenn  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Stone  Church  in  1862.  She  became 
active  in  Sunday  School  work,  not  only  teaching  a  class 
but  also  playing  the  piano  or  singing.  She  met  weekly 
with  the  Haydn  Circle  during  its  useful  term  of  years; 
was  a  supporter  of  the  Missionary  Society;  one  of  the 
Sisters  in  Charge;  treasurer  of  the  Ladies'  Society,  and 
for  the  last  six  years  its  president. 

Less  than  two  years  of  Dr.  Meldrum's  pastorate 
had  passed  when,  on  Christmas  Day,  1903,  Mrs. 
Laura  R.  Meldrum  was  taken  from  her  family  and 
from  the  circle  of  church  members  to  whom  she  had 
been  quickly  bound  by  the  ties  of  genuine  affection. 
At  the  time  of  her  departure  Mrs.  Meldrum  was 
president  of  the  Ladies'  Society  and  as  Mrs.  Mather 
then  said,  "It  seemed  as  if  her  death  had  drawn  us 
nearer  together."  Helen,  Andrew  Barclay,  Douglas 
and  Dorothy  Meldrum  were  the  surviving  children. 

Four  years  later  Dr.  Meldrum  married  Miss  Ella 
Herrick,  daughter  of  Mr.  Gamaliel  E.  Herrick,  for 
many  years  a  trustee  of  the  church.  She  was  also  a 
granddaughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sherlock  J.  Andrews, 
who  came  to  Cleveland  in  1825.  Mrs.  Meldrum 
passed  away  on  August  20,  1914,  and  of  her  life  and 
charater  Mrs.  William  E.  Gushing  gave  this  tribute: 

A  child  of  the  Stone  Church  from  infancy,  she  claimed  for 
herself  a  place  in  its  membership  in  1885.  She  belonged 
to  the  third  generation  of  a  family  that  had  looked  upon 
the  Stone  Church  as  a  part  of  its  valued  heritage  since 
1825.  She  never  wavered  in  her  loyalty  to  the  church, 
whether  as  the  gentle  maiden  or  as  the  thoughtful  matron. 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  395 

In  her  girlhood  she  radiated  happiness  in  her  family 
circle.  In  her  womanhood  she  became  center  and  soul 
of  the  family  circle  in  her  husband's  home;  while  we  who 
saw  her  unfailing  interest  in  his  and  her  church  wondered 
that  so  much  love  and  kindness  could  be  shed  abroad 
by  one  person.  Each  one  of  us  who  watched  her,  the  old 
and  the  young,  could  have  said  "This  is  my  beloved  and 
this  is  my  friend."  Her  quick  mind,  her  appreciation  of 
the  amusing  side  of  the  situation,  the  sound  quality  of 
her  friendship  manifested  in  all  possible  ways,  her  ability 
to  express  the  sympathy  she  felt,  were  some  of  the  quali- 
ties that  drew  us  all  to  her.  It  was  said  of  the  New  Eng- 
land poet,  Emily  Dickinson,  by  a  niece,  "Aunt  Emily 
never  forgot  to  be  lovely."  We  too  have  had  one  among 
us  "who  never  forgot  to  be  lovely."  The  spirit  of  her  life, 
so  full  of  grace,  adaptability,  and  love  that  was  not 
withheld,  seems  interpreted  by  an  expression  of  Emer- 
son's, "The  only  gift  is  a  portion  of  thyself."  We  can 
associate  neither  grief  nor  tears  with  the  thought  of  such 
a  person.  Her  memory  is  more  than  a  transient  survival 
in  loyal  hearts  -  it  is  an  immortality. 

Upon  the  wall  of  the  auditorium,  near  the  church 
entrance,  there  is  a  beautiful  tablet  bearing  this 
inscription: 

In  loving  remembrance 

of 

Ella  Herrick  Meldrum, 

June  4th,  1868  -  August  20th,  1914. 

Wife  of 

Andrew  B.  Meldrum,  D.D. 

There  is  no  death: 

What  seems  so  is  transition; 
This  life  of  mortal  breath 

Is  but  a  suburb  of  the  life  Elysian, 
Whose  portal  we  call  death. 


396  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

On  March  24,  1915,  a  tablet,  the  gift  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
W.  S.  Tyler,  was  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the 
Reverend  Hiram  Collins  Haydn,  D.D.,  LL.D.  After 
the  dates  of  his  birth,  death  and  pastorates  in  the 
Stone  Church  there  is  this  just  tribute: 

A  strong  man  in  faith  -  pure  in  life  -  eloquent 

in  speech  -  fearless  in  the  proclamation  of 

the  gospel  of  Christ  -  a  power  in  the 

religious  and  educational  life  of  the  city 

of  Cleveland  -  beloved  by  his  own  people  - 

honored  by  all  who  knew  him. 

"He  being  dead  yet  speaketh." 

Probably  no  pastor  emeritus  was  ever  more  satisfied 
with  the  ministry  of  his  successor  than  Dr.  Haydn 
was  with  the  successful  pastorate  of  Dr.  Meldrum. 
Neither  of  these  ministers  of  a  down-town  church 
ever  depended  upon  sensational  advertising  for  the 
sake  of  obtaining  audiences.  One  of  Dr.  Haydn's 
younger  assistants  once  prepared  a  handbill  on  which 
was  printed  the  one  word  "Hell"  in  red  ink.  This 
was  first  scattered  over  the  down-town  district,  and 
then  followed  by  an  explanatory  announcement  in 
the  papers;  while  another  associate  conducted  a  mu- 
nicipal reform  campaign  bordering  upon  the  sensa- 
tional, but  that  comprised  about  all  the  advertising 
of  that  kind  that  has  ever  emanated  from  the  Stone 
Church. 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  its  audiences 
have  not  listened  to  virile  preaching,  all  the  more 
potent  because  the  worshipers  had  not  come  to 
church  keyed  with  high  expectation  of  the  sensa- 
tional. 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  397 

For  a  few  years  before  the  electric  sign  was  secured 
bearing  the  name  *'01d  Stone  Church"  and  now 
brightly  arching  the  front  of  the  church,  there  was 
hesitancy  as  to  its  use  and  even  slight  opposition  to 
the  plans  of  its  promoters.  Dr.  Meldrum  advertises 
in  the  Saturday  papers,  but  of  late  his  sermons  have 
been  announced  by  reference  to  the  chapter  and 
verse  of  the  text  and  not  topically.  Those  who  attend 
the  Stone  Church,  however,  are  reasonably  certain 
of  a  pungent  discourse  in  which  smiles  are  often 
elicited  by  the  humorous  tinge  of  many  sentences. 
There  is  a  strong  personality  behind  Dr.  Meldrum's 
sermons,  and  so  forceful  have  been  many  of  these 
that  in  recent  years  there  has  been  an  increasing 
demand  for  their  publication,  and  issued  in  neat  book- 
let form  they  have  been  the  means  of  doing  much 
good.  Ten  years  ago,  the  year  in  which  fourteen 
members  departed  this  life,  the  sermon,  "The  Grave 
and  the  Garden"  was  issued,  followed  by  "Four 
Square  Man"  and  "Fidem  Servavi."  The  next  year 
"The  Stars  Also"  and  "Salt"  were  published. 

Among  other  printed  discourses  there  have  been, 
"Theodore  Roosevelt,  a  Study  in  Personality,"  "The 
Universal  Brotherhood,"  "Victory  and  Thanksgiving 
(1918),"  "Such  as  I  Have,"  "Burning  and  Shining," 
"The  Royalty  of  Manhood,"  "The  Simplicity  of 
Religion,"  "The  Yoke  of  Rest,"  "Our  Journey  to 
Spain,"  "Grace  and  Grit,"  "Nevertheless,"  and 
"The  Wealth  of  Youth."  In  one  year  four  thousand 
copies  were  judiciously  distributed. 

Hotel  guests  spending  Sunday  in  Cleveland  have, 


398  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

after  their  departure,  sent  for  copies  of  sermons  to 
which  they  had  Hstened,  and  this  casting  of  bread 
upon  the  waters  has  been  assisted  by  the  deacons, 
who  have  systematically  visited  the  hotels  to  dis- 
tribute church  attendance  invitations. 

Every  year-book  issued  during  the  present  pas- 
torate has  contained  a  "Report  of  Pastor's  Assist- 
ant," an  annual  review  prepared  by  the  late  Elder 
Livingston  Fewsmith,  and  his  reports  never  failed 
to  dwell  upon  the  increasing  power  of  the   Stone 
Church  pulpit  and  the  efficient  work  of  the  church 
societies.    Thus  we  read  in  the  year-book  of  1913: 
Dr.  Meldrum's  preaching  during  the  year  has  been  per- 
haps the  best  that  he  has  ever  given  us.   Our  congregations 
have  kept  up  well,  both  Sunday  and  Wednesday  evening. 
Our  choir  has  done  its  usual  excellent  work,  the  trustees 
and  deacons  have  been  as  faithful  as  ever.    This  church 
is  certainly  richly  blessed  in  the  personnel  of  its  official 
boards,  composed  as  they  are  of  as  fine  a  class  of  men  of 
high  character  and  devoted  interest  as  can  be  found  any- 
where.   Our  women's  organizations  are  composed  of  a 
body  of  earnest,  faithful,  devoted   members  such   as  it 
would  be  difficult  to  duplicate.     We   are   proud   of  our 
young  people,  from  the  boy  scouts  up  to  all  ages.    They 
are  a  splendid  group,  to  whom  we  look  for  great  things 
as  they  come  forward  to  fill  places  of  the  older  members 
who  are  rapidly  passing  from  us. 

The  year  1918  brought  to  a  close  the  life  of  Mr. 
W.  S.  Tyler,  who,  although  not  a  member  of  the 
church  to  which  his  wife  belonged,  was  for  ten  years 
president  of  its  board  of  trustees.  Mrs.  Tyler  is  the 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  F.  Clark,  who  were 
loyal  to  all  the  interests  of  the  Stone  Church.    The 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  399 

beautiful  individual  communion  set  used  since  1911 
is  one  of  her  many  gifts  to  the  church  loved  by  her 
parents,  her  husband  and  herself. 

In  the  early  years  of  his  Cleveland  pastorate  Dr. 
Meldrum  conducted  the  Friday  Noon  Teachers' 
Class,  a  task  demanding  careful  study  and  prepara- 
tion in  detail,  in  order  to  assist  those  who  the  follow- 
ing Sunday  were  to  teach.  Sixty  different  schools 
were  represented  in  this  class,  whose  average  attend- 
ance was  one  hundred  twenty-five. 

Dr.  Meldrum,  furthermore,  throughout  his  Cleve- 
land pastorate  has  probably  delivered  more  lectures, 
dedication  and  installation  sermons,  and  addresses 
for  annual  meetings,  commencements  and  various 
functions  of  the  Masonic  Order,  in  which  he  is  the 
Grand  Prelate  of  Ohio,  than  any  of  his  ministerial 
brethren.  The  demands  come  not  only  from  all  parts 
of  the  city,  but  also  from  distant  places.  One  of  his 
lectures,  entitled  "Scotland  and  the  Scotch,"  has  de- 
lighted many  audiences.  This  response  to  so  many 
calls,  without  ever  slighting  church  duties,  entails  a 
heavy  tax,  but  in  some  way  the  Stone  Church  pastor 
accomplishes  effectively  all  tasks. 

The  late  Reverend  William  Gaston,  D.D.,  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  pastor  of  the  North  Presby- 
terian Church,  was  known  as  the  "Marrying  Parson," 
a  title  more  recently  bequeathed  to  Dr.  Meldrum, 
and  that  without  any  effort  to  secure  it.  Strange  to 
say  the  trend  of  matrimonial  business  was  not  toward 
the  Stone  Church  when  the  Probate  Court  was  in 
the  old  court-house,  but  since  the  street  leading  to 


400  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

the  new  court-house  runs  alongside  the  church,  those 
who  escape  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  scouts  and  desire 
a  reHgious  service  are  wont  to  stop  at  the  door  of  the 
Old  Stone  Chapel.  It  is  needless  to  state  that  Dr. 
Meldrum  employs  no  "runners"  in  this  business, 
which  is  conducted  with  the  same  degree  of  dignity 
that  characterizes  all  the  Stone  Church  work. 

The  reports  in  the  year-books  issued  during  the 
last  eighteen  years  reveal  unabated  activity  in  every 
church  organization.  The  Ladies'  Society  has  never 
relaxed  its  various  charities.  A  sample  taken  at  ran- 
dom when  Mrs.  George  A.  Garretson  was  president 
in  1909  reveals  the  wide  scope  of  activities.  That 
year  the  society  supplied  material  for  Miss  Weaver's 
missionary  service  to  the  poor;  for  such  charities  as 
the  Rainbow  Cottage,  Perkins  Day  Nursery,  Louise 
Nursery,  Lakeside  Hospital,  Babies'  Hospital  and 
Dispensary,  Harbison  Cottage,  and  other  organized 
charities.  One  thousand  three  hundred  ninety-three 
articles  were  made;  five  boxes  were  sent  to  home 
missionary  families  in  Idaho,  North  Dakota,  Ne- 
braska, and  Virginia,  while  seventy-six  calls  were 
made  upon  the  shut-ins  of  the  church. 

In  this  centennial  year  the  Stone  Church  Session 
consists  of  Elders  George  F.  Boehringer,  James  H. 
Burris,  Sereno  P.  Fenn,  James  N.  Fleming,  F.  C.  Gor- 
ton, L.  B.  Hall,  A.  B.  Marshall,  W.  C.  McCullough, 
Thomas  A.  Munro,  H.  B.  Ormsby,  Claude  C.  Rus- 
sell, Philip  A.  Ryder,  and  T.  A.  Torrance. 

The  Board  of  Deacons  is  composed  of  Mark  Blinn, 
Ray  V.  Crooks,  James  Dunn,  R.  H.  Ellsworth,  John 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  401 

P.  Farley,  J.  M.  Gemberling,  Roy  R.  Moffett,  Paul 
G.  Moore,  T.  J.  Morrison,  J.  R.  Petrie,  J.  F.  Rankin, 
Henry  A.  Raymond,  Harry  R.  Taft,  Elliott  H.  Whit- 
lock,  and  Edward  M.  Williams. 

The  Sisters  in  Charge  are  Mrs.  J.  N.  Fleming,  Mrs. 
S.  S.  Gardner,  Mrs.  G.  A.  Garretson,  Mrs.  H.  Judd, 
Miss  Kate  McFarland,  Mrs.  S.  P.  Fenn,  Mrs.  C.  A. 
Nicola,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Raymond,  Mrs.  T.  A.  Torrance, 
Miss  Jessica  Eyears,  and  Mrs.  A.  B.  Marshall. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  consists  of  Martyn  Bonnell, 
president;  Charles  A.  Nicola,  Charles  W.  Bingham, 
Sereno  P.  Fenn,  James  N.  Fleming,  Lucien  B.  Hall, 
and  Edward  M.  Williams.  A.  B.  Marshall  serves  as 
treasurer  of  the  society. 

The  Bible  School  makes  its  one  hundredth  annual 
report  this  year.  Elder  S.  P.  Fenn  as  superintendent 
and  Elder  P.  A.  Ryder  as  assistant  superintendent, 
are  ably  supported  by  the  following  officers:  Junior 
Department,  Miss  Dorothy  Ruth;  Primary  Depart- 
ment, Miss  Hazel  Francisco;  Home  Department,  Miss 
Hazel  Foster;  Mothers'  and  Homemakers'  Club,  Mrs. 
J.  N.  Fleming;  treasurer,  J.  P.  Farley;  secretary,  Rob- 
ert M.  Jack;  Syrian  Department,  Miss  Mabel  Rogers; 
Chinese  Department,  Miss  Marion  Trapp;  Church 
of  the  Covenant,  Miss  Clyde  Abernethy;  pianist. 
Miss  Anna  Bruce;  chorister,  C.  S.  Metcalf. 

The  present  enrollment  in  the  regular  school  totals 
three  hundred  eighty-one,  a  gain  of  fifty-three  over 
the  previous  year;  adding  the  Home  Department 
Cradle  Roll  and  kindred  organizations,  the  whole  en- 
rollment is  seven  hundred  forty-three.    The  receipts 


402  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

of  the  Bible  School  for  the  year  were  two  thousand 
three  hundred  thirty-seven  dollars.  The  Sisters  in 
Charge,  Mrs.  S.  P.  Fenn,  president;  Miss  Jessica  A. 
Eyears,  secretary;  and  Mrs.  S.  A.  Raymond,  treas- 
urer, distributed  last  year  gifts  amounting  to  five 
hundred  seventy-five  dollars.  The  Syrian  Mission,  a 
new  venture,  meets  on  Sunday  afternoon  at  four 
o'clock  in  Bradley  Court.  Miss  Mabel  Rogers  is 
superintendent,  and  thirty-five  pupils  are  enrolled, 
composed  of  Syrians,  Greeks,  and  Mexicans.  Gospel 
services  have  been  recently  discontinued  on  account 
of  the  death  of  the  Reverend  U.  E.  Fattoosh.  Many  of 
the  Syrians  attend  the  Stone  Church  Sunday  School. 

The  Mothers'  and  Homemakers'  Club  has  forty- 
one  members,  officered  by  Mrs.  J.  N.  Fleming,  presi- 
dent; Mrs.  J.  H.  Burris,  vice-president;  Mrs.  M.  W. 
Zimmer,  secretary;  and  Mrs.  Ola  O.  Boehringer, 
treasurer.  This  organization  is  affiliated  with  the 
Cleveland  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  Consum- 
ers' League,  and  Congress  of  Mothers. 

The  Young  Peoples'  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 
is  in  its  twenty-eighth  year.  Hugo  K.  Hannaford  is 
president;  Robert  Johns,  vice-president;  Mrs.  F.  A. 
Ebeling,  corresponding  secretary;  Miss  Alice  Black- 
well,  recording  secretary,  and  Harold  J.  Smith,  treas- 
urer. Mrs.  H.  K.  Hannaford,  Miss  Margaret  Jack, 
and  Miss  Florence  King  serve  as  pianists.  There  is 
a  membership  of  fifty  and  over  one  thousand  dollars 
was  raised  last  year  and  distributed  in  missionary 
work. 

The    Westminster    Guild    has    a    membership    of 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  403 

twenty.  Florence  Marceaux  is  president;  Florence 
Pitcher,  vice-president;  Margaret  Jack,  treasurer; 
and  Mrs.  F.  A.  Ebeling,  secretary. 

The  Ladies'  Society  has  existed  sixty-four  years. 
Mrs.  S.  S.  Gardner  is  president;  Mrs.  S.  A.  Raymond, 
vice-president;  Mrs.  R.  H.  Ellsworth,  second  vice- 
president;  Mrs.  J.  N.  Fleming,  recording  secretary; 
Mrs.  J.  M.  Gemberling,  assistant  recording  secre- 
tary; Miss  Anna  P.  Oviatt,  corresponding  secretary; 
Miss  Carrie  B.  Smith,  treasurer;  and  Mrs.  E.  C. 
Gulliford,  assistant  treasurer.  Last  year  two  thou- 
sand one  hundred  eighty-five  articles  were  made. 
Naturally  during  the  recent  years  much  has  been 
done  for  war  relief  in  addition  to  the  local  charities. 
The  receipts  for  the  year  amounted  to  almost  two 
thousand  dollars.  This  society  possesses  a  number 
of  endowment  funds,  such  as  the  Louisa  Austin,  the 
Sarah  Parsons,  the  Blair-Whitaker,  the  Mary  A. 
Fenn,  the  Elizabeth  Blossom,  the  Emma  S.  Ray- 
mond Endowments,  amounting  in  all  to  four  thou- 
sand five  hundred  fifty  dollars. 

This  is  the  forty-sixth  year  (according  to  modern 
reckoning)  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society,  whose 
ofl[icers  are  Miss  Carrie  B.  Smith,  president;  Mrs. 
H.  B.  Ormsby,  first  vice-president;  Mrs.  S.  P.  Fenn, 
second  vice-president;  Mrs.  S.  S.  Gardner,  secretary; 
Mrs.  R.  H.  Ellsworth,  alternate  secretary;  Miss 
Josephine  Eyears,  home  mission  treasurer;  Mrs.  J.  R. 
McLaughlin,  foreign  mission  treasurer;  Mrs.  W.  C. 
McCullough,  secretary  of  literature.  The  financial 
receipts  for  the  year  were:  home  missions,  one  thou- 


404  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

sand  one  hundred  twenty-six  dollars;  foreign  missions, 
one  thousand  five  hundred  sixty  dollars. 

For  the  work  of  the  missionary  assistant,  almost 
fourteen  hundred  dollars  was  disbursed.  The  Auxil- 
iary to  the  Ladies'  Society,  an  organization  five  years 
old,  is  planning  a  sinking  fund  for  the  printing  of 
Dr.  Meldrum's  sermons.  The  officers  are  Florence 
McEachren,  president;  Julia  McClurg,  treasurer; 
Mary  Mix,  secretary;  and  Melissa  Peters,  chaplain. 

The  Church  of  the  Covenant  is  in  care  of  Miss 
Abernethy. 

The  membership  of  the  Stone  Church  reported  to 
the  last  General  Assembly  was  seven  hundred  twenty- 
one;  congregational  expenses,  twenty-four  thousand 
five  hundred  fifteen  dollars;  miscellaneous  expenses, 
thirteen  thousand  three  hundred  dollars;  benevo- 
lences through  church  boards  alone,  twelve  thousand 
sixty-four  dollars.  During  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Mel- 
drum  twelve  hundred  thirty-two  have  been  received 
into  membership.  Congregational  expenses  have 
been  four  hundred  fifty-three  thousand,  six  hundred 
sixty-six  dollars;  while  the  benevolences  reported  to 
the  General  Assembly  alone  have  amounted  to  over 
three  hundred  fifty-three  thousand  dollars,  or  a  total 
of  nine  hundred  nineteen  thousand  dollars  for  church 
support  and  benevolences. 

In  his  semicentennial  sermon  Dr.  Goodrich  esti- 
mated that  during  the  half-century  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  thirty-five  had  been  received  into  the 
Stone  Church  membership.  At  the  seventy-fifth  anni- 
versary Dr.  Haydn  estimated  that  to  that  time  three 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  405 

thousand  nine  hundred  ninety-one  had  been  re- 
ceived. Upon  those  estimates  the  total  additions  for 
the  century  have  been  five  thousand  four  hundred 
seventy-four,  fourteen  hundred  eighty-three  having 
been  received  during  the  last  twenty-five  years. 

According  to  the  last  manual  issued  forty-one 
persons  now  connected  with  the  Stone  Church 
have  been  members  over  forty  years.  Of  these  the 
following  eleven  have  been  members  over  half  a  cen- 
tury: Mrs.  Martha  Eyears,  sixty-seven  years;  Mr. 
Frederick  Backus,  fifty-nine  years;  Mrs.  Charles  W. 
Bingham,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Cole  and  Mrs.  Clara 
Simmons,  fifty-eight  years;  Miss  Emily  A.  Harvey, 
fifty-six  years;  Mr.  Sereno  P.  Fenn,  fifty-five  years; 
Mr.  James  H.  Cogswell,  fifty-four  years;  Mr.  Lucien 
B.  Hall,  fifty-three  years;  Mrs.  Samuel  A.  Ray- 
mond, fifty-one  years  and  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Pierce, 
fifty  years. 

During  the  recent  European  War  all  the  Stone 
Church  societies  "did  their  bit"  in  one  way  or  another. 
The  pastor  served  on  the  Mayor's  War  Committee, 
and  from  the  congregation  the  following  went  forth 
to  military  service,  forming  the  Honor  Roll  of  the 
Stone  Church:  Arthur  Austin,  Frank  S.  Backus,  Ser- 
geant Frank  R.  Beemer,  Earl  W.  Burrows,  Harry 
Cattrell,  Frank  Chan,  Sergeant  Fred.  Claire,  Captain 
Irving  L.  Daniels,  Earl  M.  Donoghue,  James  Douglas, 
Louis  DeSimonde,  Lieutenant  George  Garretson, 
Lieutenant  Hiram  Garretson,  George  Gilleron,  Max 
Golberg,  Clarence  Hall,  Hugo  K.  Hannaford,  James 


406  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

Henderson,  Captain  Sherlock  A.  Herrick,  Robert  W. 
Johns,  Albert  Kuebler,  Fred  Kahn,  Stewart  Kuhns, 
Harriet  M.  McDonald,  John  F.  W.  McKay,  Henry 
Meinke,  Lieutenant  Douglas  G.  Meldrum,  Michael 
Nassif,  Sergeant  William  S.  Petrie,  W.  B.  Powell, 
Ensign  S.  Edward  Raymond,  Julia  Raymond,  Jona- 
than S.  Raymond,  John  Russell,  Joseph  Schanda, 
Edward  Sills,  Charles  H.  Simpson,  Sergeant  Harold 
J.  Smith,  Charles  Todd,  Lieutenant  Samuel  K.  Well- 
man,  Corporal  Ralph  E.  White,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Elliott  H.  Whitlock,  W.  L.  Witherspoon,  Robert  S. 
Wilson,  and  Walter  E.  Willock. 

Since  returning  home  Miss  Harriet  M.  McDonald, 
who  had  served  as  reconstruction  aide.  Orthopedic 
Unit,  Base  Hospital  114,  American  Expeditionary 
Force,  has  been  engaged  in  an  interesting  work,  at 
present  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Stone 
Church.  At  first  a  free  dispensary  was  opened  in  the 
Primary  Room  of  the  Stone  Church  Chapel,  where 
Miss  McDonald  gave  massage  to  wounded  soldiers; 
also  serving  them  with  tea  and  refreshments. 
Then  a  Christmas  party  was  given  the  soldiers  in  the 
Ladies'  Parlor,  and  in  return  the  soldiers  gave  an 
entertainment  when  they  were  guests  of  the  church 
ladies.  When  Mrs.  Dudley  Blossom  gave  her  Euclid 
Avenue  home  to  the  American  Legion  Club,  she  at 
the  same  time  offered  Miss  McDonald  the  use  of  a 
suite  of  rooms  to  which  she  has  transferred  her  dis- 
pensary. The  session  of  the  Stone  Church  now  par- 
tially supports  this  work. 

Ten  years  ago  the  Stone  Church  celebrated  the 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  407 

ninetieth  anniversary  of  its  founding  by  a  modest 
program  extending  over  three  days,  beginning  Sun- 
day, October  16,  1910,  at  the  Sunday  School  hour, 
when  Elder  Charles  L.  Kimball,  an  ex-superintendent 
who  had  been  a  member  of  the  school  from  1864 
until  he  removed  to  Chicago  in  1898,  was  given  a 
glad  welcome.  At  the  Sunday  morning  church  serv- 
ice the  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  Reverend  Henry 
W.  Hulbert,  D.D.,  a  former  associate  pastor,  whose 
theme  was,  "The  Past  as  an  Inspiration."  Prior  to 
the  sermon,  however.  Dr.  Haydn,  pastor  emeritus, 
was  introduced  and  spoke  as  follows: 

That  I  am  spared  to  see  this  day  and  share  this  ninetieth 
anniversary  with  you  I  am  very  grateful.  It  was  said 
of  Moses  when  one  hundred  twenty  years  old  that  "his 
eyes  were  not  dim,  nor  his  natural  strength  abated."  It 
was  a  fine  thing  to  say  of  him.  It  was  evidence  that  there 
was  good  stuff  in  him  yet.  Something  equivalent  is  need- 
ful in  long-lived  institutions,  that  Christ's  old  churches 
may  still  be  virile.  One  happening  around  this  corner 
on  a  Sunday  morning  will  be  likely  to  say,  'The  Old  Stone 
Church  corner  is  still  alive."  Live  people  make  a  live 
church,  and  especially  a  live  pastor  makes  one.  I  am 
happy  that  still  the  tokens  of  life  are  many  upon  the 
old  church,  and  the  prophecies  of  decrepit  and  fore- 
shortened days  oft  writ  upon  it  are  as  though  writ  in 
sand.  It  is  natural  on  such  occasions  to  eulogize  the 
past.  We  have  a  past  to  thank  God  for,  and  especially 
a  record  of  beautiful,  useful,  and  loving  lives  upon  which 
to  dwell;  but  let  us  strike  the  note  that  is  full  of  hope 
for  the  future.  Let  us  anticipate  our  century  age,  in 
hope  of  coming  up  to  it  with  generations  of  youth  able 
to  take  up  the  record  of  the  past  and  carry  it  on  with 
credit  to  themselves,  and  a  history  full  of  the  spirit  of 


408  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

their  fathers.  That  is  the  prophecy  of  the  Old  Stone 
Church  Sunday  School  for  each  Lord's  Day.  May  these 
days  quicken  our  faith,  and  set  oi-r  faces  with  a  forward 
look  and  a  resolute  heart  full  of  high  purposes  upon  the 
work  of  the  future.  May  there  be  no  faint  heart  here  in 
this  day  of  great  things  and  surprising  achievements. 

These  were  among  the  last  of  Dr.  Haydn's  public 
utterances,  and  the  exhortation  appHes  to  the  present 
centennial  occasion  as  well  as  to  the  one  of  adecadeago. 

At  the  Sunday  morning  service  the  congregation 
sang  a  hymn,  written  in  honor  of  the  occasion  by 
Professor  Howell  M.  Haydn,  son  of  the  venerable 
pastor  emeritus. 

At  the  Sunday  afternoon  communion  service  the 
meditation  was  given  by  the  Reverend  Thomas  S. 
McWilliams,  D.D.,  then  pastor  of  Calvary  Presby- 
terian Church,  but  now  university  professor  of  re- 
ligious education  on  the  Louis  H.  Severance  Founda- 
tion at  Western  Reserve  University.  Other  ministers 
participating  were  the  Reverends  Edwards  P.  Cleave- 
land,  Wilber  C.  Mickey,  and  Alfred  J.  Wright,  pas- 
tors respectively  of  the  Bolton  Avenue,  Bethany,  and 
Lakewood  Presbyterian  churches,  all  founded  by  the 
Stone  Church.  Elders  representing  the  four  churches 
distributed  the  elements. 

Sunday  evening  there  were  special  exercises  at  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society,  followed  by  the  church 
service  with  a  sermon  on  "The  Demand  for  Con- 
secrated Manhood"  by  the  Reverend  Paul  R.  Hickok, 
of  Washington,  D.  C,  formerly  an  assistant  pastor 
in  the  Stone  Church.    Monday  afternoon  at  three- 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  409 

thirty  o'clock  there  was  a  ''twilight  organ  recital 
and  concert,"  given  hv  Professor  William  B.  Colson, 
organist,  assisted  by  the  choir,  composed  of  Mrs. 
Anna  M.  Wanamaker,  soprano;  Miss  Grace  Upham, 
alto;  Mr.  Edwin  H.  Douglass,  tenor,  and  Mr.  Walter 
C.  Howell,  bass. 

Monday  evening  brought  a  memorial,  congratu- 
latory, and  inspirational  service,  at  which  addresses 
were  made  by  pastors  of  churches  founded  by  the 
Stone  Church,  and  by  the  Reverend  Henry  W.  Hul- 
bert,  D.D.,  and  the  Reverend  Paul  R.  Hickok.  The 
main  address  of  the  occasion,  however,  was  that  of 
Elder  Livingston  Fewsmith,  assistant  pastor,  who 
described  the  organized  work  of  the  past,  and  of  the 
period  that  had  elapsed  since  the  seventy-fifth  anni- 
versary in  1895  he  said: 

During  the  last  fifteen  years  we  have  expended  for  cur- 
rent expenses  two  hundred  thirty-five  thousand  dollars, 
and  for  benevolences  and  all  other  objects  of  which  we 
have  record  three  hundred  thousand  sixty-five  dollars, 
an  average  of  forty  thousand  dollars  a  year.  It  should 
be  noted  that  for  every  dollar  expended  toward  con- 
gregational expenses  there  has  been  more  than  one 
given  to  benevolent  work. 

No  one  anticipated  with  greater  interest  the  ap- 
proach of  the  centennial  celebration  than  did  the  late 
Elder  Livingston  Fewsmith,  who  had  stood  by  the 
side  of  the  Reverend  Andrew  B.  Meldrum,  D.D., 
during  almost  the  full  extent  of  the  latter's  Cleveland 
pastorate.  The  substance  if  not  the  exact  language 
of  what  was  said  at  the  ninetieth  anniversary  fitly 


410  THE  OLD  STONE  CHURCH 

closes  this  record  of  Dr.  Meldrum*s  fruitful  work. 
Probably  no  church  in  the  city,  and  indeed  through- 
out the  country,  is  as  cosmopolitan  in  character  as 
the  Stone  Church.  Although  from  the  first  it  has 
numbered  among  its  membership  many  of  the 
wealthiest  and  cultured  families  of  the  city,  it  has 
always  been  the  church  home  of  people  of  moderate 
means  and  of  those  poor  in  this  world's  goods,  but 
often  rich  in  faith.  Throughout  its  existence  an  in- 
spiring harmony  has  reigned,  a  Christian  fellowship 
recognized  by  the  community  in  general  as  an  ex- 
ample of  what  a  Christian  church  ought  to  be. 

The  effective  pastoral  labors  of  Drs.  Aiken,  Good- 
rich, Mitchell  and  Haydn,  whose  prolonged  service 
made  him  a  veritable  bishop  of  the  whole  Presbyterian 
fellowship  in  Cleveland,  have  often  been  eulogized. 
Their  lives  cover  the  greater  part  of  the  history  of 
the  Stone  Church.  Following  them  as  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor comes  Dr.  Meldrum,  to  whom  under  God*s 
guidance  is  largely  due  the  fact  that  the  venerable 
organization  shows  no  signs  of  decrepitude,  but 
rather  evidence  of  increasing  power.  Any  eulogy  re- 
garding the  work  and  character  of  the  present  hon- 
ored leader  must  express  the  virility,  the  fearless- 
ness, and  at  the  same  time  the  sympathetic  tender- 
ness of  his  preaching;  the  marked  attainments  of  his 
life  as  a  man,  and  the  unique  position  which  he  holds 
as  a  minister  in  Cleveland.  Hope,  good  cheer,  im- 
perial duty,  in  short  a  well-balanced  Christianity, 
have  characterized  the  life  of  the  Stone  Church  dur- 
ing the  last  eighteen  years,  and  under  the  blessing 


ANDREW  BARCLAY  MELDRUM  411 

of  God  these  qualities  give  promise  of  continuance 
for  years  to  come. 

Church  of  a  noble  past, 

Our  hearts'  leal  love  thou  hast, 

In  this  glad  hour. 
We  hail  thy  wealth  of  days. 
And  in  triumphant  lays, 
Render  to  God  our  praise. 

For  all  thy  power. 

A  host  of  valiant  souls. 
Names  that  illume  thy  rolls, 

Have  gone  before. 
May  we  as  in  their  sight, 
Keep  thy  lamp  burning  bright, 
Waging  in  God's  own  might. 

Our  holy  war. 

We  have  a  fight  in  hand. 
If  we  would  loyal  stand, 

Like  them  of  old. 
Thou  need'st  our  watch  and  care, 
Thou  need'st  our  toil  and  prayer, 
And  we  must  do  and  dare. 

Lest  love  grow  cold. 

Church  of  the  hundred  years, 
Our  faith  upon  thee  rears. 

New  hopes  today. 
May  God  who's  led  thee  on, 
In  the  dear  Christ  His  Son, 
Still  crown  with  victory  won. 

Thy  heavenward  way. 

—Howell  M.  Haydn 


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